Know your rights
If you have been named in a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, this page sets out the safeguards that Indian law and the Supreme Court have recognised. Read it, then take your FIR to an advocate.
Do these four things first
- Get a copy of the FIR. You are entitled to it. Nothing useful can be said about your case without it.
- Note the date of remand, if anyone has been taken into custody. Time limits run from that date, not from the date of the incident.
- Collect the papers showing the real dispute. Land records, tenancy papers, wage or employment records, earlier complaints by either side, panchayat records, messages, notices.
- Do not contact the complainant or any witness. Not to explain, not to apologise, not through a relative. It will be used against you and it can attract a fresh case.
The investigating officer must be of a specified rank
Rule 7, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995
An offence under the Act is to be investigated by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. Courts have taken differing views on what follows from a breach. Some have held the proceedings vitiated; others have treated it as an irregularity to be judged by the prejudice it caused. Either way, check the rank of the officer who filed your charge sheet and tell your advocate.
Caste-based intent is an essential ingredient, not an assumption
Hitesh Verma v. State of Uttarakhand (2020) · Section 3(1)(r) of the Act
An offence under the Act arises where the act was committed because the person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. The Supreme Court has held that intentional insult or intimidation must also be in public view for Section 3(1)(r) to apply, and that abuse arising out of a private property dispute, inside a building and away from public gaze, does not by itself attract the Act.
A quarrel over land, wages, a boundary wall or a domestic matter does not become an offence under this Act merely because the parties belong to different communities. Where the FIR discloses no caste element, that is a ground your advocate can take at the earliest stage.
Anticipatory bail is restricted, but not absolutely barred
Sections 18 and 18A of the Act · Prathvi Raj Chauhan v. Union of India (2020)
Section 18, and Section 18A inserted in 2018, exclude anticipatory bail for offences under the Act. In Prathvi Raj Chauhan the Supreme Court upheld the 2018 amendment and at the same time held that the bar does not operate where the complaint, read as it stands, does not make out a prima facie case under the Act. In such a case a court may still consider anticipatory bail.
This is a narrow opening and it turns entirely on what the FIR says. Take the FIR to an advocate the same day. See also Arrest, bail and time limits.
A High Court can quash a manifestly false FIR
Section 528 BNSS, 2023 (earlier Section 482 CrPC) · State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal (1992)
The High Court has inherent power to quash proceedings that are an abuse of the process of law. The categories set out in Bhajan Lal include cases where the allegations in the FIR do not constitute the offence alleged, where they are absurd on their face, and where the proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fides or has been instituted to wreak vengeance for a private grudge.
This is where your documents about the underlying dispute matter most. A quashing petition succeeds on paper, not on argument.
Arrest procedure and the record of arrest
Sections 35 and 47 BNSS · D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997)
Constitutional and statutory safeguards on arrest continue to apply to the extent they are not excluded by Section 18A. You are entitled to be told the grounds of arrest, to have a relative or friend informed, to consult a lawyer, to a medical examination on request, and to be produced before a Magistrate within twenty-four hours.
A warning about outdated advice. The safeguards laid down in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan in March 2018 — a preliminary enquiry before registration of an FIR, and written approval before arrest — were undone by Parliament in August 2018 through Section 18A, and the Supreme Court recalled its own directions on review in October 2019. A great deal of material still circulating online relies on that judgment. Do not rely on it.
If the charge sheet is not filed in time, ask for default bail
Section 187 BNSS (earlier Section 167(2) CrPC)
Where investigation is not completed within the prescribed period — sixty or ninety days depending on the punishment prescribed for the offence — an accused in custody becomes entitled to be released on bail, provided the right is claimed before the charge sheet is filed. This is a right and not a discretion, but it is lost if it is not exercised in the window. Count the days from the date of remand.
Remedies where a complaint is proved to be false
Sections 217 and 248 BNS, 2023 (earlier Sections 182 and 211 IPC)
Giving false information to a public servant, and instituting a false criminal charge with intent to injure, are themselves offences. Separately, a civil suit for malicious prosecution can be brought for damages.
These routes are slow and procedurally fussy. For some offences a complaint by the court concerned is required before a prosecution can begin, under Section 215 BNSS (earlier Section 195 CrPC). They are worth pursuing with counsel, and they are not a substitute for defending the main case first. Win the main case, then consider this.
Free legal aid if you cannot afford a lawyer
Article 39A of the Constitution · Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
Free legal services are available through the National, State, District and Taluk Legal Services Authorities. Every person in custody is entitled to apply, and so is anyone within the income limit prescribed in their state. Apply at the District Legal Services Authority in your district court complex, or call NALSA on 15100. See Free legal aid for how to apply, and we will help you fill the form.
What not to do
- Do not approach the complainant, their family or any witness.
- Do not post about the case on social media, and do not name the complainant anywhere. Disclosing the identity of a person said to be a victim of an offence under this Act can itself be an offence.
- Do not miss a date before the Special Court, however unimportant it looks.
- Do not pay anyone who promises you a result. Nobody can promise you a result.
- Do not rely on advice, from any source, that is based on the 2018 Mahajan directions.