Himachal Pradesh HC Denies Anticipatory Bail to Woman Who Assaulted Scheduled Caste Child for Touching Her House [Read Order]

Himachal: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to a woman accused of confining and beating an 11-year-old boy belonging to a Scheduled Caste community for allegedly touching her house, calling the allegations deeply rooted in caste prejudice.

Justice Rakesh Kainthla delivered the order while hearing Cr.M.P.(M) No. 2385 of 2025 (Pushpa Devi vs. State of Himachal Pradesh), observing that the bar under Section 18 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, excludes the applicability of Section 438 Cr.P.C. for pre-arrest bail.

According to the police report, the accused, Pushpa Devi, allegedly confined the boy, Sikander, inside her cowshed and assaulted him after he touched her house. She also demanded a sacrificial goat to “purify” her home. The court noted that the investigation revealed the act was motivated by caste bias and that the accused herself admitted to confining the child in a local media interview.

Justice Kainthla cited the Supreme Court rulings in Prathvi Raj Chauhan v. Union of India (2020) and Kiran v. Rajkumar Jivraj Jain (2025), reiterating that “anticipatory bail cannot be granted where a prima facie offence under the SC/ST Act is made out.” He added that the provisions of the Act reflect the constitutional mandate to protect Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from indignities and humiliation.

Holding that the offence appeared to have been committed solely because of the victim’s caste, the court concluded that the petition was not maintainable and dismissed it accordingly. “Since the beatings were given because the victim had touched the house of the accused, prima facie the offence was committed because of the caste of the victim,” the court observed.

Case Title: Pushpa Devi vs. State of Himachal Pradesh

[Read Order]