The Supreme Court on Thursday said that an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is not made out on the fact that the complainant is a member of SC or ST. A bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi said: "All insults or intimidations to a person will not be an offence under the Act unless such insult or intimidation is on account of victim belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe." The bench emphasised that the object of the Act is to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as they are denied a number of civil rights.

"Thus, an offence under the Act would be made out when a member of the vulnerable section of the society is subjected to indignities, humiliations and harassment," added the bench. The top court said that it is essential to establish that there is an intention to humiliate the victim because he belongs to such a caste. The bench cited that another key ingredient of the provision, under Section 3 (1) (r), is that the insult or intimidation was done in "any place within public view".