On Friday, January 6, a district court in Uttarakhand’s Tehri sent a six-year-old child to jail along with his family booked under the SC/ST Act. In a land dispute case in Muni Ki Reti police station area, the police filed a chargesheet against the family. The family appealed before the court to release them and claimed that they were being framed in a false case.
However, the District Judge on Friday, while hearing the case said that there is enough evidence against the family. When asked to file a bail application, they refused to do so. Consequently, the family of four – two men and two women – was sent to jail. As one couple among them has a 6-year-old child that they can’t leave at home, the minor was also sent to jail along with his mother.
A total of five persons from the family have been sent to jail in the case, identified as Laxmi Devi, Sita Devi, Amit, Atul and 6-year-old Abhinav.
In the land dispute case, the police have registered a case under sections 323, 354, 392, 506 and the SC/ST act. But the family has refuted the charges, saying that they are being framed for resisting the land mafia from grabbing her land. The accused family has alleged that the police are conspiring against them. The family also requested the court to acquit them under section 227.
It is worth noting that Section 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) states that if the Judge determines that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused after reviewing the case record and the documents submitted in court, as well as hearing the submissions of both the accused and the prosecution in the matter, he shall discharge the accused and explain his decision.
6 साल के इस बच्चे का क्या दोष है@narendramodi जी, जिस जाति विशेष के लिए आपने अध्यादेश जारी किया था, क्या वह जातिवाद इस बच्चे को भी पता है ? #SC_ST_एक्ट में माँ के साथ बच्चे को भी जेल भेज दिया गया।
— Shivya Tripathi (@Real_Shivya) January 6, 2023
मामला उत्तराखंड के टिहरी का।@pushkardhami#Ban_Sc_St_Act pic.twitter.com/nKrOmUrzif
However, in this case, District Judge Yogesh Kumar Gupta observed that there is sufficient evidence against the accused persons. After refusing to file a bail application, one of the women informed the court that she cannot leave her son at home. Thus, the minor boy was also sent to jail along with his mother.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for January 9.
According to the family of the woman, in the records of the revenue department, the land in question is in her name. But despite this, the land mafia with the help of politicians is trying to grab her land. Last year they applied for electricity and water connections, but it was declined. After that, they approached the court, and the District Magistrate directed the authorities to provide power and water connections to the plot within a week. But the court order was not implemented, prompting the family to sit on a hunger strike.
The family alleges that a fake case under the SC/ST act was lodged against them at the insistence of land mafias and cabinet minister Subodh Uniyal by putting pressure on the police. They have also alleged that the woman who filed the fake SC/ST case against them, has an unverified caste certificate.
The accused family has now written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the National Commission for Women and the Superintendent of Police and Senior Superintendent of Police of the district seeking a CBI probe in the case.
