The Karnataka High Court has taken a firm stand against caste-based discrimination by refusing to quash proceedings against eight individuals accused of preventing a Dalit family from entering the Gadi Chowdeshwari Temple and subjecting them to abuse over their caste. This decision reinforces the court’s commitment to upholding the constitutional abolition of untouchability and the rights of individuals from scheduled castes and tribes.
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Justice M Nagaprasanna, presiding over the case, expressed shock at the persistence of untouchability in rural areas, even in modern times. He stated,
“The attitude of the petitioners is undoubtedly regressive, for they have denied entry into a temple, only on the score that the complainant and her family belong to a Scheduled Caste community. This discrimination should stop, and stop forthwith. The fact it is still prevailing shocks the conscience of the court. Human beings are to be treated as human beings.”
The incident, which occurred on September 17, 2016, involved the complainant, Savithramma, her husband, and others being barred from entering the temple premises, assaulted, and verbally abused due to their caste. The accused, Pandurang Bhat and seven others, were booked under various sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Indian Penal Code by Malebennur police in Davanagere district.
The accused argued that the temple, being within walls, did not constitute a public place, and therefore, the SC/ST Act would not apply. However, the court disagreed, stating,
“It isn’t a case where the petitioners didn’t know to which caste the complainant and her family belonged to. They are fully aware of it… the complainant and her family were stopped from entering the temple only because they belonged to the said caste and abuses were hurled outside the temple. If this cannot be construed as a place of public view or even a public place, I fail to understand what else could be… The offences under the Act are, therefore, appropriately laid against the petitioners.”
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Justice Nagaprasanna further emphasized that a temple is a public place for the purpose of invoking the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. He observed,
“The abuses are hurled and hurled in public which is viewed by several public as it was outside the doors of the Temple and the Temple is, trite, a public place. Therefore, the challenge to the offences under the Atrocities Act so laid tumbles down.”
Acknowledging the delay in the case, with nearly eight years having passed since the complaint, Justice Nagaprasanna directed the concerned court to endeavor to complete proceedings within six months of the date of this order. This ruling marks a significant step in the fight against caste-based discrimination and the protection of constitutional rights in India.
