Ahmedabad: In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court acquitted a man convicted of raping a minor tribal girl in 2013 of charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, stating that the prosecution failed to establish that the offence was committed on the ground of the victim’s caste.
The judgment, delivered on May 9 by a division bench comprising Justice Ilesh Vora and Justice Sandeep Bhatt, set aside the Bharuch Sessions Court’s conviction under Section 3(2)(v) of the Atrocities Act. The court held that there was no direct evidence indicating the accused targeted the girl because she belonged to the SC/ST community.
The accused, Kanu alias Kishanbhai Machhi-Patel, a van driver from Bharuch, had been convicted in 2016 for abduction, rape, and unnatural sex under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for the incident that took place on January 19, 2013.
However, while the High Court upheld his conviction under IPC and POCSO — for which he was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment — it overturned the life sentence under the Atrocities Act. The court also ordered that if Machhi-Patel was not required in any other case, he should be released from jail and refunded the fine imposed under the Atrocities Act.
The High Court emphasized that neither the victim, her parents, nor the investigating officer presented evidence that the crime was committed because of the girl’s caste identity. “There is nothing on record to show that the offence was committed because the victim belonged to SC/ST caste,” the bench observed.
The victim, a minor at the time, did not claim in her testimony that her caste was a motivating factor in the crime. The victim’s parents also did not make such a claim. The court further noted that the investigating officer failed to establish that the accused knew about the victim’s caste or that he did not belong to the SC/ST category himself.
The bench relied on a 2017 Supreme Court ruling which interpreted the unamended Section 3(2)(v) of the Atrocities Act — applicable in this case, as the crime occurred in 2013. According to the older version of the law, the offence must have been committed on the ground that the victim belonged to the SC/ST community, not merely with knowledge of the caste identity.
The 2016 amendment to the Atrocities Act substituted the phrase “…on the ground that such person is a member…” with “…knowing that such person is a member…” — thus widening the scope. However, since the alleged offence preceded this amendment, the earlier and stricter interpretation applied.
“In the absence of any evidence proving intention of the accused in committing the offence solely because the victim belonged to SC/ST community, the conviction cannot be sustained,” the bench ruled, referencing Supreme Court precedents.
According to the prosecution, Machhi-Patel, who used to drop the victim to school, took her to a secluded area on January 19, 2013, and raped her. He then dropped her home. An FIR was registered two days later. In 2016, the trial court sentenced him to a 10-year term under IPC and POCSO provisions and life imprisonment under the Atrocities Act, imposing a total fine of ₹14,000.
While the accused did not contest his IPC and POCSO convictions, he appealed against the life sentence under the Atrocities Act, arguing that the trial court erred in applying that provision without adequate evidence of caste-based intent.
