The High Court of Karnataka has quashed a criminal case registered by Rekha Sayannavar, a member of the Bengaluru Urban III Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the landlord of her rented house for allegedly abusing her.
Misusing provions
The court said that Ms. Rekha sought to misuse the provisions of the SC/ST (PoA) Act and abuse the process of law only as a counter, as she had become disgruntled to the action of the landlords for having succeeded in the litigations for non-payment of rent and failure to vacate the rented flat despite the decree of civil court.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by 75-year-old V. Jagadish Bathija, a resident of Bengaluru. The petitioner had questioned registration of FIR against him by Sanjayanagar police on March 29, 2023 based on Ms. Rekha’s complaint.
The petitioner had given a flat in a posh residential apartment complex in Dollar’s Colony, RMV 2nd Stage on rent to Ms. Rekha in 2018. A case for dishonour of a cheque for ₹7 lakh was registered under Negotiable Instruments Act against her by the petitioner as the two cheques given as a security deposit was dishonour, and this case is still pending for adjudication.
Later, Ms. Rekha neither paid any rent to the owner of the flat despite occupying the flat nor paid the monthly maintenance charge towards to apartment owners’ association in terms of the rental agreement. Following this, petitioner issued legal notice and later filed a civil suit in 2020 for recovery of about ₹15.45 lakh rent and evicting her from the flat.
Civil court’s decree
The civil court in December 2022 passed the decree directing her to pay the rental amount and vacate the premises within three months. As she did not obey the decree, the petitioner filed execution petition and the civil court issued warrant for delivery of possession of flat to the owner through its Bailiff with the assistance of the police. The delivery was executed by the evening of March 29, 2023 and on the same day Ms. Rekha filed the criminal complaint alleging that petitioner had abused her in the rented flat on March 26, 2023.
The High Court also said as the alleged hurling of abuses is neither in a public place nor in a place of a public view, the provisions of the SC/ST (PoA) Act will not be attracted as per apex court’s judgments. “It is due to cases of this nature where the provisions of the Act are grossly misused engaging the courts of law, at times, genuine complaints of people who have actually suffered such abuses, would go into the oblivion,” the court observed.
