XXXXXXXXXX Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question in focus in this case is essentially whether the fourth respondent belongs to any of the communities enumerated as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

(2.) This issue assumes importance in this case because the appellant/petitioner, who is the father of the victim alleged to have been sexually assaulted and murdered by the fourth respondent, asserts that the afore said respondent does not belong to any of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities and therefore, that the charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 also ought to have been incorporated against him.

(3.) The petitioner thus moved this Court and a learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition holding, based on the various materials reflected in the impugned judgment, that he belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community and therefore, that the request for amendment of the charges are not tenable.