The Karnataka High Court has said that false cases under the SC/ST Act are clogging the criminal justice system. The court made the remarks while quashing a case filed against two brothers over a property dispute.

“This case would form a classic illustration of misuse of the provisions of the Act and the penal provisions under the IPC. It is such cases which clog the criminal justice system and consume considerable time of the Courts, be it the Magistrates Court, Court of Session or this Court, while genuine cases where litigants have actually suffered would be waiting in the pipeline,” it said.

“On the entire gamut of consideration made hereinabove, what would unmistakably emerge is misuse and abuse of the provisions of the Act. This case forms a classic illustration of scores and scores of cases where the provisions of the Act are misused for ulterior motives or pressurise the accused in collateral proceedings,” the court added.

The father of the petitioners, KJ Patel, had purchased a property from one Krishnamurthy over 50 years ago. Krishnamurthy’s son Purushotham has been fighting a civil case over the property against the brothers, Rasik Lal Patel and Purushothama Patel. In 2018, Purushotham registered a complaint against the brothers and they were booked under the SC/ST Act and the IPC. The brothers challenged it in the High Court.

“None of the offences either under the IPC or under the Act are present even on their foundational basis, let alone building a castle on such a foundation. In the teeth of aforesaid facts, if further proceedings are permitted to continue, it would be putting a premium on the abuse of the process of law by the complainant in a manner which on the face of it is civil in nature.”

Quashing the criminal case against the brothers, the court said, “Therefore, such cases, which on the face of it is an abuse of the process of the law, are necessarily required to be nipped, failing which, it would be a heavy burden on the criminal justice system, apart from it becoming a harassment to the petitioners and ultimately resulting in miscarriage of justice.”