Cinema employee gets six months imprisonment under SC/ST Act

A former cinema theatre employee, who worked as a ticket booking clerk, on Monday was sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment by a sessions court for using abusive language against his subordinate.

Convicting the accused under Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Act, ASJ Rajnish Kumar Gupta also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on convict Satya Prakash alias Bhatnagar. A resident of Karol Bagh in central Delhi, 69-year-old Satya Prakash was held guilty under Section 3(1)(x) of the Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe Act (Prevention of Atrocities) Act dealing with insulting or intimidating with the intent to humiliate an SC/ST in public view. The purpose of the Act is to prevent atrocities and help in social inclusion of Dalits into the society.

The court relied heavily on the prosecution’s version while holding Satya Prakash guilty. According to the prosecution, Satya Prakash, who worked as booking clerk at Regal Cinema in Connaught Place, had used abusive language against complainant Nanak on August 10, 2003. An FIR was registered at the Connaught Place police station on the victim’s complaint.

Following the examination of prosecution witnesses, the court convicted Satya Prakash and awarded him imprisonment and also slapped a fine on him. Earlier, the SC had observed that addressing Scheduled Caste people as ‘chamar’ may amount to an offence punishable under the provision of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
With Thanks from the Times of India
Source :- The Times of India 30 September 2008 P 5 Delhi
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