Calcutta High Court Rules Caste Abuse Over Phone Not Under SC/ST Act

The Calcutta High Court recently decided that if someone uses caste-based abusive words over the phone, it doesn't fall under a special law meant to protect certain communities.

This law, called the SC/ST Act, is meant to prevent atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

The court said that for this law to apply, the abuse must happen in public view.

In this case, the abuse was over the phone, so the court said it doesn't count.

The person who was accused of this abuse was allowed to surrender to the court and ask for regular bail within four weeks without being arrested during this time.

The court also mentioned that other charges in the case were bailable.

It's important to note that other courts in India have different views on similar cases.

For example, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently said that caste-based hate speech harms the country, while the Telangana High Court said a dispute that was private in nature shouldn't be treated as a criminal case under the SC/ST Act.