The criminal proceedings against DMK Rajya Sabha legislator RS Bharathi under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for a speech he gave in 2020 were dismissed by the Supreme Court on Monday.
The criminal case against the legislator was dismissed by a bench consisting of judges L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose, who found that his remarks did not meet the requirements for the charges for which he was accused.
The top court agreed with prominent lawyer Kapil Sibal and counsel Amit Anand Tiwari that there was no evidence of a crime under the harsh Act against the legislator.
The whole reading of the speech revealed that it was neither disrespectful to late Justice Varadrajan (a former Madras High Court judge) nor intended to encourage animosity towards members of the scheduled castes, according to the court, which allowed the DMK leader’s appeal.
A complaint was filed against the MP under Section 3 (1) (u) and (v) of the Act, which states that no one can “encourage or seek to foster emotions of animosity, hate, or ill-will against members.”
One of the provisions used against the leader states, “Any person who, by words either written or spoken or by any other means, disrespects any late person held in high esteem by members of the SC/ST will be subject for prosecution under the Act.”
The proceedings were initiated against Mr. Bharathi for the March 2020 speech in which he had said, “I am openly telling you not even one Harijan has become a High Court Judge in Northern states, especially in Madhya Pradesh. But in Tamil Nadu when Kalaignar came to power, he got Varadharajan appointed as a High Court Judge.”
Afterward, if 7-8 people belonging to Adi Dravida Community became judges, it was because of the alms of the Dravidian movement…”
