#Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Bombay High Court upholds denial of bail under Section 3(1)(s) of the Atrocities Act, ruling that caste-based abuse in public, corroborated by an independent witness, constitutes a prima facie offence warranting custodial interrogation. The judgment reinforces the stringent application of the Act in cases involving public humiliation of Scheduled Castes.

Allahabad High Court ruled that the methodology under Section 9(1)(c) of the Delimitation Act, 2002, for reserving SC/ST constituencies based on population proportion is constitutionally valid and not arbitrary. The judgment reinforces judicial deference to legislative policy in electoral reservation matters, impacting future delimitation exercises.

The Chhattisgarh High Court acquits an accused under the SC/ST Act after finding no evidence the offense was motivated by caste animus, and no competent caste certificate was produced to establish the victim’s Scheduled Tribe status. This ruling reinforces that procedural and evidentiary rigor is non-negotiable in atrocities cases - protecting both victims from false accusations and accused from presumption-based convictions.

The Karnataka High Court ruled that a transfer violating the PTCL Act's statutory bar on SC/ST land alienation renders all subsequent transfers void from inception, regardless of registration or good faith. This decision underscores that statutory protections override even bona fide purchasers' rights, extinguishing derivative titles entirely.