New Delhi: In Banda district of Uttar Pradesh, a family is facing trial under the SC-ST atrocity law just for opposing an act of molestation. The incident took place in a small village of the district called Tendura.
As per the application of the victim family, a Dalit man Bhagwati Verma was molesting her daughter from the last few days and pressurising her to make a sexual relationship with him.
When she resisted and complained about the wrongful intentions to the family members of the accused, the accused acted badly and rushed to file a complaint against the girl’s family citing this as an act of untouchability.
Also, the accused had a record of molesting the same girl on phones by using various numbers.
“Whenever I used to come from coaching to my home, Many times Bhagwati had tried to molest me. He was constraining me to make a sexual relationship on fields” the girl told Neo Politico.
“When my parents made a complaint to his family members, they beat us and booked our family under the Sc-St act” she added.
Police deny any act of untouchability
The local officers are denying any act of untouchability as claimed by the accused side. However, police have registered a complaint against the girl’s family and doing further investigation.
What is Sc-St act
The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, or the SC/ST Act protects the marginalised communities against discrimination and atrocities. The act lists 22 offences relating to various patterns or behaviours inflicting criminal offences and breaking the self-respect and esteem of the scheduled castes and tribes community. This includes denial of economic, democratic and social rights, discrimination, exploitation and abuse of the legal process.
