Atrocity case over phone talk: Gujarat high court stays action

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Friday ordered the police not to take coercive steps against a person who allegedly hurled a casteist slur during a telephone conversation. He was booked under SC/ST Atrocities Act after an audio clip of the conversation was leaked on social media.
The petitioner claimed that a conversation over the telephone cannot be treated as a talk in public space and hence the Atrocities Act cannot be invoked. Accused Melabhai Rabari from Rajoda village of Bavla filed a petition seeking quashing of an FIR registered against him under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Bavla police station on May 6.
He was booked after Hitesh Jadav, an advocate, complained that he came across an audio clip on social media. The content of the clip was a telephone conversation between Rabari, Paresh Patel and Kishor Thakkar, in which Rabari was heard uttering casteist abuses.
While seeking quashing of the FIR, Rabari’s advocate Kishan Prajapati submitted that the atrocity charges were invoked for a telephonic talk during a conference call, which cannot be termed a public place. The government lawyer defended the FIR stating that though the telephone conversation was a private affair, the audio clip was in circulation on social media, which is a public place.
After preliminary hearing, Justice S H Vora issued notice to the state government and stayed any action against Rabari.