Supreme Court On SC-ST Act: The Supreme Court gave an important judgment on Friday. Delivering this judgment, the country’s apex court said that insulting any person belonging to the SC-ST community without mentioning his caste will not be considered an offense under the strict provision of the SC-ST Act, 1989. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra gave this judgment granting anticipatory bail to Sajan Skaria, editor of an online Malayalam news channel. Let us tell you that a case was registered against Skaria under the SC-ST Act. He is alleged to have ‘mafia don’ CPM MLA Srinijan, who hails from the SC community. The trial court and the Kerala High Court had refused to grant him anticipatory bail. The court accepted the arguments of senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and Gaurav Aggarwal appearing for the editor. The Supreme Court held that intentional insult or threat to any member of the SC-ST community does not constitute caste-based humiliation. The Supreme Court further said that, prima facie in our opinion, there is nothing to indicate that Scaria has promoted a spirit of enmity, hatred or ill will against members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes by broadcasting the video on YouTube. The videos generally have nothing to do with SC or ST members, their target was Srinijans only. The Khand Peeth further held that the intention to insult has to be understood in the wider context in which the concept of insult to the laughing stock has been interpreted by various scholars. The Division Bench further held that this was not an ordinary insult or threat which sought to be made punishable under the 1989 provision. Referring to the ‘mafia don’ reference, the bench said that considering the nature of the reprehensible conduct and the derogatory statements made, it could be said of Scaria that, He has committed the offense of defamation punishable under Section 500 of the IPC. If so, the prosecutor can proceed against the appellant accordingly.