(1.) This Crl.M.C. has been filed seeking to quash all further proceedings in C.C.No.171 of 2018 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III (Juvenile Justice Board) Ernakulam. The allegation against the petitioner, who was a minor at the time of the alleged commission of offence, is that she allegedly interfered in an altercation that took place between her father and the husband of the defacto complainant (belonging to a Scheduled Caste community) and on the instigation of her father, she attacked the defacto complainant by hitting the defacto complainant on her neck. It is alleged that the petitioner is an expert in karate and she had attacked the defacto complainant by chopping her neck using her hands and thereby she committed the offences alleged against her.
(2.) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that the offences alleged against the petitioner are those under Ss. 341, 323 and 506(i) read with Sec. 34 of the IPC and Ss. 3(1)(r), (s) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. It is submitted that even if the entire allegations in the F.I.S. of the defacto complainant are taken to be true, the offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 will not be attracted. It is submitted that apart from the allegation that the petitioner had attacked the defacto complainant as above, there is no other allegation against the petitioner to attract the offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. It is further submitted that since the petitioner was a juvenile, it cannot be said that the petitioner had attacked the defacto complainant knowing that she was a member of one of the scheduled caste in order to attract the offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
(3.) The learned Public Prosecutor submits that the contentions now taken by the learned counsel for the petitioner are matters for evidence. It is submitted that there is no ground made out for interference of Sec. 482 of the Cr.P.C. It is submitted that whether the petitioner committed the offences with the knowledge that the defacto complainant was a member of one of the Scheduled Caste or not is a matter to be ascertained at the trial. It is submitted that there is no ground made out for exercise of jurisdiction under Sec. 482 of the Cr.P.C.