Chembur Man Sentenced to Six Months Jail for Casteist Abuses, Derogatory Remarks

A special court in Mumbai has sentenced Chembur resident Shakil Shaikh, 32, to six months of rigorous imprisonment for making derogatory remarks against Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and hurling casteist slurs at advocate Vinod Satpute.

The incident took place near RNA Colony at Vashinaka in Chembur on October 13, 2016, at around 9 pm. According to the prosecution, Satpute had parked his four-wheeler in the area when Shaikh confronted him. Shaikh demanded that Satpute withdraw an earlier police complaint that had been filed against him by Satpute and his brother.

When Satpute refused to withdraw the complaint, Shaikh hurled caste-based abuses and used offensive language against him. Shaikh also made derogatory remarks regarding Dr. B.R. Ambedkar during the scuffle. Following the confrontation, Satpute approached the authorities and registered a First Information Report at the RCF police station.

During the trial, the defence argued that Shaikh was falsely implicated in the case due to previous personal enmity between the parties. The defence also pointed out that the prosecution did not examine any independent witnesses and failed to produce CCTV footage of the alleged incident.

The special court rejected the defence arguments, observing that the testimonies provided by the complainant and his brother were consistent throughout and were duly corroborated by the spot panchnama.

Convicting Shaikh, the court stated that the factum of using insulting language against the informant on the basis of his caste, as well as making derogatory remarks against Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on the specified date and time, had been proved by the prosecution through sufficient evidence.