In a landmark decision, the Allahabad High Court ruled while considering a criminal appeal in a case involving the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act that simply referring to someone by their caste, without intending to intimidate or degrade them, should not be illegal under either the SC/ST Act or this legislation.
According to the court, calling someone by their caste without intending to offend them is not illegal. Therefore, it would be a misuse of the law to continue criminal proceedings under the SC/ST Act.

The court declared that proceedings for crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) will continue even though it revoked the summons order that the trial court had issued against the appellants. A criminal appeal brought by Amay Pandey and three others was partially allowed by the ruling, which was issued by a single-judge court that included Justice Madan Pal Singh.
The case specifics state that the appellants challenged the actions taken against them under the SC/ST Act by filing a criminal appeal with the Allahabad High Court. They attempted to dismiss the trial court's July 2025 summons order as well as the trial court's current proceedings.In 2019, Amay Pandey and the three other appellants were the subject of a first information report (FIR) under the SC/ST Act.
According to the appellants' attorney, the prosecution's entire case was intentionally false and contradictory. According to the attorney, there was no indication of any caste-based verbal abuse in the initial FIR, which was filed against nameless individuals and claimed a vague attack resulting from a fight that occurred after a wedding.
However, the complainant later gave a different account in a recorded statement, claiming to have identified the appellants using CCTV footage and accusing them of abuse and assault related to caste.According to the attorney, the prosecution's case is obviously undermined by the substantial disparity between the FIR and the later statements. Additionally, it was argued that the medical evidence does not support the prosecution's version because the complainant's reported injuries are modest, indicating that the purported occurrence has been overstated and distorted.
Since there is no proof that the claimed violation was committed because the complainant was a member of the Scheduled Castes community, the requirements for the applicability of the SC/ST Act's provisions are not satisfied in this instance.On behalf of the state, the government's attorney challenged the appeal, claiming that it is impossible to claim that the appellants have committed no crimes under the SC/ST Act after viewing the chargesheet and the summons order.
After hearing arguments from both parties, the judge noted that the prosecution's case seemed to have significant improvements and contradictions. There are no accusations of caste-based abuse in the FIR, and the appellants are not given any particular role. Only mild injuries are indicated by the medical findings.
These elements seriously cast doubt on the prosecution's case, especially with regard to the alleged offences under the SC/ST Act, when taken into account combined with the apparent history of a personal quarrel between the parties.

According to the court, the evidence gathered during the investigation does not prove that the alleged acts were committed because of the complainant's caste or that they were only done with the intention of intimidating or humiliating him because he is a member of the Scheduled Castes community.
The court stated that it is well-established that in order for the SC/ST Act's provisions to apply, the prosecution must first prove that the accused purposefully insulted or intimidated the victim because the victim was a member of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes community and that the act was carried out in a public setting.

The Court ruled that the strict requirements of the SC/ST Act do not apply to simple verbal abuse or participation in a physical conflict without the essential condition of a caste-based motive.