The Calcutta High Court has directed a fresh investigation into a complaint alleging caste-based abuse through Facebook, holding that the concept of “public view” under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, can extend beyond physical spaces into the digital domain.
Justice Uday Kumar passed the order in a criminal revision challenging the Special Court’s decision to accept a “Nil/No clue” final report and drop the proceedings.
Background
The petitioner, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste community, had complained that casteist and abusive remarks targeting his caste identity, religion, God and family were posted on Facebook. Screenshots and digital links relating to the alleged posts were submitted with the complaint.
During the investigation, the police recorded the complainant’s statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, statements of independent witnesses and prepared a seizure list concerning the digital material. However, the police later submitted a “Nil/No clue” Final Report after efforts through the Cyber Police Station to obtain user details from Facebook did not yield the required information.
The Special Court subsequently rejected the complainant’s protest petition and accepted the closure report. One of the reasons considered by the Special Court was that the complainant had been involved in three other special cases in which charge sheets had been filed.
The High Court found that approach legally unsustainable. Justice Uday Kumar held that each criminal occurrence has to be examined independently on its own facts and evidence.
“What shocks judicial conscience in the instant case is the reasoning adopted by the learned Special Judge, that because the complainant had filed three other special cases where charge sheets were submitted, the ‘Nil’ report in the present case must be accepted.”
The Court further held that previous or parallel proceedings filed by a complainant cannot by themselves be used to presume that a separate complaint lacks merit.
On the digital aspect, the Court observed that “public view” under Section 3(1)(r)/(s) of the SC/ST Act is not restricted to a physical location. Where screenshots and electronic links have been formally seized and supported by the complainant’s statement, the investigation cannot end merely because an initial attempt to obtain information from a social media intermediary was unsuccessful.
The High Court set aside the Special Court’s order dated June 27, 2023, quashed the acceptance of the Final Report and the dropping of the special case.
The matter was remanded for further investigation under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-West Division/Specialised Cyber Cell supervisory tier, Kolkata Police.
The Court directed specialised cyber-forensic personnel to trace the digital footprints and profile logs connected with the posts and submit a report under Section 173(8) of the CrPC within three months.
Case Details
Case Title: Sri Sayan Mondal v. The State of West Bengal
Case Number: CRR 2992 of 2023
Judge: Justice Uday Kumar
Decision Date: September 25, 2026
