Andhra police invokes SC-ST Act against hotel for serving food on plates with Ambedkar’s picture: NCSC

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh Police has invoked the SC-ST Act against a hotel that served food on paper plates with the pictures of B R Ambedkar on those, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) said on Tuesday.

The NCSC received a complaint on July 8 last year through Twitter, alleging that food was served on paper plates with the picture of Ambedkar in a hotel in Konaseema district.

When a protest was staged against this by the members of Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, the hotel owner got an FIR lodged against 18 men.

The police arrested the 18 SC men and sent them to jail. Police investigated under sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and after finding the allegations against the hotel owner and the paper plate seller to be true, they were arrested.

NCSC Chairman Vijay Sampla said during a hearing, police informed the commission that the SC-ST Act and section 295A of the IPC have been added in the matter in accordance with the commission’s instructions.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted by Parliament to prevent atrocities and hate crimes against the members of the SC and ST communities. The Act is popularly known as the SC/ST Act, PoA or simply, the “Atrocities Act”.

The FIR against the 18 SC men was also cancelled at the hearing, Sampla said.