The High Court of Calcutta pronounced a significant legal precedent concerning digital communications, holding that derogatory, caste-based remarks posted on open social media platforms unequivocally satisfy the statutory requirement of being made within ‘public view’ under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The bench rejected a petition seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings initiated against a user who published offensive caste slurs on an open digital profile.
Defense counsel had argued that digital online exchanges do not correspond to physical public places as traditionally contemplated under statutory criminal provisions drafted prior to the internet era. Disagreeing with that narrow interpretation, the High Court observed that public internet groups, timeline posts, and comment threads accessible to multiple independent subscribers possess an even wider public reach and permanence than physical public squares.
Judicial analysts pointed out that the decision aligns statutory human rights safeguards with modern communication realities, establishing that digital social networks cannot serve as unregulated havens for targeted caste abuse. The court directed trial courts to proceed with the prosecution in accordance with criminal law, affirming that statutory protections against social discrimination apply equally across physical and virtual spaces.
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Sources:
https://indianexpress.com/print/explained/