Bombay High Court refuses to quash SC/ST case against two booked for slapping BSP MP

The Bombay High Court recently declined to quash a first information report (FIR) registered against two individuals accused of slapping a Dalit Member of Parliament from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) during a party meeting in Mumbai [Neema Sanjay Rangari and anr v State of Maharashtra].A Bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal and Justice Neela Gokhale said that it found no grounds to quash the atrocities case and that the offences were clearly made out against the two accused."There is no justification for slapping a member of parliament belonging to a scheduled caste, in public view and utterance of those derogatory words. The offences under the said Act are clearly made out. No case for quashing of the FIR is made out," the Court held..The incident occurred on July 17 this year during a meeting of the Maharashtra Pradesh BSP at Dadar where the party was announcing its new President and committee members. The meeting was attended by a senior Rajya Sabha MP, who was allegedly slapped by one of the accused, a woman party member, when she came in front of him in a queue. During the altercation, both accused also allegedly made derogatory remarks about two specific scheduled castes, saying that the party is made up of people from those two castes.According to the FIR filed by a party official with the Dadar police station, the two accused were upset because they were not given tickets to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.The accused were booked for offences under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.They then approached the High Court to quash the case.The petitioners argued that the FIR was politically motivated and lodged with malafide intent. They pointed out that the FIR was not filed by the MP who was allegedly slapped but by the President of Maharashtra BSP. They also claimed that no derogatory remarks were made by them. .They also highlighted an FIR filed by one of the accused in Bhandara, alleging abuse and claiming she was pushed off the stage during the same event. The petitioners maintained that the case was a result of political vendetta, also referred to a non-cognizable report (NC) lodged at Dadar police station on the same day, which did not include any reference to the MP.However, the Court found sufficient material to support the FIR, including witness statements and CCTV footage that captured the entire incident. The Bench concluded that the derogatory remarks made by the petitioners targeted specific scheduled castes and the assault was witnessed by multiple individuals. "The incident recorded in the CCTV camera is described in that panchanama. It supports the version in the FIR and of the eye witnesses," the Court stated. Given the "overwhelming" circumstances and materials against the petitioners, the Court dismissed the petition and refused to quash the FIR.“The intention of the petitioners is clearly made out in the F.I.R. The incident was witnessed by many other witnesses… All these statements show that the utterances were highly humiliating,” the Court held. .Advocate Ashwin Thool instructed by advocate Archismati Chandramore appeared for the petitioners.Additional Public Prosecutor MH Mhatre represented the State.Senior Advocate Rajendra Shirodkar along with advocates Nihar S Ghag, Anil Y Bansode and Pradeep Shirsat appeared for the complainant. .[Read Order]