In Brief
In December 1995, a man allegedly forcibly entered the home of a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste and raped her. He was convicted of rape under IPC Section 376(2)(g) and aggravated atrocity under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act Section 3(2)(v), receiving life imprisonment for the latter. The Supreme Court upheld the rape conviction and 10-year sentence but set aside the atrocity conviction. The Court held that the unamended statute required proof the rape was committed 'on the ground that' the victim belonged to Scheduled Caste—i.e., with discriminatory intent. The evidence did not establish such intent, merely showing a rape crime without anti-SC motivation. The amendment lowered the threshold to 'knowing that', but did not apply retroactively.
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