Crl.M.No.M-24690 of 2010 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Crl.M.No.M-24690 of 2010 (O&M) Date of Decision: August 25, 2010 Lakhwinder Singh and others .....Petitioners v. Kirpal Singh and another .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAM CHAND GUPTA Present: Mr.S.K.Vohra, Advocate for the petitioners. ...... RAM CHAND GUPTA, J.(Oral) The present petition filed under Section 438 Cr.P.C. is for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioners in criminal complaint No.85/09 dated 5.5.2009, titled as Kirpal Singh v. Lakhwinder Singh and others, pending in the Court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Baba Bakala. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and have gone through the whole record carefully. Brief allegations against the petitioners are that complainant belongs to scheduled caste whereas petitioners-accused belong to non- scheduled caste and this fact was known to the petitioners being in the same village. Complainant is Ex-member of Panchayat. On 19.4.2009, complainant was returning to his house in Village Bhorshi from Nanakpura and at about 5.00 p.m., when he reached near crossing of the village, then he was waylaid by the petitioners-accused. They abused him in the name of his caste. Firstly petitioner-accused Lakhwinder Singh uttered the words that `Kutia churia tue sadei khilaf case karke stay lia hai'. Then Narinder Singh uttered the words that `Kute Chure nueu sade uchi jati valian nal panga lein da maja chakha deo.' Then petitioner Gurjit Singh uttered the words `is kute chure nueu pind vich nahin rehan dena.' In the last Arasdeep Singh uttered the words that `Kutia churia tuen apna case vapas lai lai, nahin tau tueue jana mar devange.' Thereafter all the accused Crl.M.No.M-24690 of 2010 (O&M) -2- uttered the words that `Tueu pind vich gand paia hai, tenu kuta chure nuen ajj jano mar dena hai, and gave beatings to the complainant and put off his turban. He raised alarm, which attracted Jaswinder Singh, Jaimal Singh and other people passing thereby and thereafter petitioners-accused ran away after giving threats to the complainant to kill him. In view of these facts, prima facie, case for offence under Section 3 of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of attrocities) Act (hereinafter to be referred as `SC & ST Act') is made out. It has been held by Hon'ble Apex Court in Swarn Singh v. State through Standing counsel 2008(4) RCR (Criminal) 74, that merely uttering of word `Chamar' is sufficient to attract offences under Sections 3 and 4 of the SC & ST Act, if the same are uttered in public view or at a public place. Hence, Section 18 of the SC & ST Act creates a bar for granting anticipatory bail to the petitioners-accused. Hence, in view of these facts, and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the present petition filed by petitioners- Lakhwinder Singh, Narinder Singh, Gurjit Singh and Arshdeep Singh for grant of anticipatory bail is, hereby, dismissed being devoid of any merit. 25.8.2010 (Ram Chand Gupta) meenu Judge