Hyderabad: Telangana high court has quashed a criminal case registered under the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against a 50-year-old woman on allegations of harassing a woman belonging to the SC community, who was in a relationship with her son. The victim alleged that the petitioner asked her to convert in order to marry her son.Justice Juvvadi Sridevi noted that even as per the complaint and charge sheet filed by police, there was no material to support the case, and the only allegation against the petitioner was that she asked the victim to convert to their religion and marry her son. “In view of the Supreme Court guidelines and other high court judgements in similar matters, the case is quashed,” the judge said, disposing of the case recently.The case, registered at Rajendranagar in 2022, was also against the woman’s son for allegedly cheating and having physical relationship with the woman in the name of marriage, later dumping her as she belonged to the SC community. It is currently pending before the Rangareddy district court.According to the victim, she became acquainted with the woman’s son while working at a tech firm in Ameerpet and fell in love. He promised to marry her and had physical relationship with her. However, his mother, the petitioner in the present case before the high court, objected to their marriage as the victim belonged to the SC community, following which the boy broke up with her and refused to marry.The petitioner, while denying the allegations, claimed that there was no evidence to show that she abused the victim in the name of caste in any place within public view. “The case itself is mala fide, illegal, and an abuse of the process of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the process of law, and continuing the proceedings against her is an abuse of the process of law,” she argued.The judge said that the allegations against the victim were not with the intent to humiliate members of the SC or ST communities, and the place of the offence was not within public view. The court quashed the case against the petitioner.
