Karnataka High Court refuses to close case against persons booked for attacking Dalit family over temple entry

The Karnataka High Court recently refused to close a criminal case against persons accused of blocking the entry of a Scheduled Caste (SC) family into a temple and attacking them [Pandurangabhat and ors v. State and anr.].Justice M Nagaprasanna underscored that a deity in a temple does not belong to a select few and that any kind of untouchability, bigotry or discrimination is unacceptable."Deity in the temple cannot even be imagined to be belonging to a few. Worshipping of the deity, by entering into the temple, is to be given to one and all. Any kind of bigotry or discrimination is unacceptable. Trial in such cases cannot be interdicted," the Court said. .The Court, therefore, refused to halt criminal proceedings against the eight persons accused of preventing the SC family from entering the Gadi Chowdeshwari Temple on the ground that their entry would make the temple "unholy". The accused were also alleged to have verbally abused and attacked the family, which included a woman, her husband and their child. "It is rather unfortunate that despite constitutional abolition of any form of untouchability, it still remains and persists in rural areas of the nation. Although temples are seen to be symbols of unity and inclusivity, denial of rights of temple entry and worship, to persons belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, still looms large," the Court observed after examining the allegations..The Court said that the attitude of the accused appeared to be regressive since they had allegedly denied entry to a temple solely because the family belonged to a scheduled caste. "This discrimination should stop and stop forthwith. The fact that it is still prevailing shocks the conscience of the Court. Human beings are to be treated as human beings," the Court observed..Notably, the Court also laid down that a "temple" is a public place for the purpose of invoking the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC/ST Act). Abuse of a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste near a temple would, therefore, attract Section 3 of the SC/ST Act, the Court held. "The abuses are hurled and hurled in public which is viewed by several public as it was outside the doors of the Temple and the Temple is, trite, a public place. Therefore, the challenge to the offences under the Atrocities Act so laid tumbles down," the Court said. .The Court was dealing with a case where the complainant had alleged that in 2016, she and her family were attacked and verbally abused through derogatory references to their caste when they sought to visit the Gadi Chowdeshwari temple.A criminal complaint was lodged against eight persons. The complaint cited charges under Sections 3(1)(10) and (11) of the SC/ST Act, along with various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)..The accused, however, asserted that no offence was made out. Notably, they argued that even if any abuse took place, it happened within the temple, which is not a "public place" or a "place of public view." Therefore, the SC/ST Act would not be attracted, they argued. The Court, however, disagreed. "Being fully aware of the caste of the complainant and her family, they were stopped from entering the temple only because they belonged to the said caste and abuses were hurled outside the temple. If this cannot construed to be a place of public view or even a public place, I fail to understand what else could be," the Court said. .The Court further opined that if the complaint and the charge sheet were read together, it would depict horrendous acts by the accused..The Court, therefore, dismissed the plea of the accused paving the way for the trial against them to continue. Advocates Satish MS and Malipatil PS appeared for the petitioners (accused). Government pleader Yashodha KP appeared for State government..[Read Order]