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SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

Territorial Extent of the SC/ST Act and its Extension to Jammu and Kashmir

Section 1(2) of the SC/ST Act fixes where the Act is in force. For thirty years that section carried an exception: the Act extended to the whole of India 'except the State of Jammu and Kashmir'. The exception disappeared on 31 October 2019, when the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 brought the new Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh under a long list of central laws. This note explains the meaning of territorial extent, why Jammu and Kashmir was excluded, how the Act was extended, the legal consequences of the extension, and the related territorial rules that affect the Act's operation everywhere.

1. Section 1(2): Meaning of Territorial Extent

Section 1(2), SC/ST Act

As enacted (1989): It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Since 31 October 2019: It extends to the whole of India.

  • 'Extends' and 'applies'. The extent clause identifies the territory in which the law is in force. Whether it applies to a particular case then depends on its own conditions: an offence committed within that territory, a victim who belongs to a notified Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, and an accused outside those communities.
  • 'Whole of India'. Under Article 1, the territory of India comprises the territories of the States, the Union Territories specified in the First Schedule, and any territories that may be acquired. The Act is therefore in force in every State and every Union Territory.
  • Commencement distinguished. Section 1(3) left commencement to a central notification; the Act came into force on 30 January 1990. Extent answers where; commencement answers when.

Territorial layers of the Act

Figure 1: Territorial layers of the Act

  • Union Territories. In a Union Territory, the functions of the 'State Government' under the Act and the Rules are discharged by the Union Territory's administration: the Administrator appointed under Article 239 and, in a Union Territory with a legislature such as Delhi, Puducherry or Jammu and Kashmir, its government within the framework of the governing statute.
  • Externment areas. Externment under Section 10 operates in 'Scheduled Areas' or 'tribal areas' referred to in Article 244 (the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas) and, since the 2015 amendment, in any area identified as atrocity-prone under Section 21(2)(vii). The rest of the Act applies everywhere.

⚠ Identity has a territorial dimension too

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe status is conferred State by State under Articles 341 and 342. The Supreme Court has held, in the context of reservation, that a person is a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe member only in relation to the State for which his community is notified (Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao, 1990; Action Committee on Issue of Caste Certificate, 1994; Bir Singh v. Delhi Jal Board, 2018). Whether the same rule limits a migrant victim's protection under the SC/ST Act has not been settled by the Supreme Court, and High Courts have held that it does not: a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court in Sanjay Krushna Katkar v. State of Maharashtra (2023) held that the Act's protection is not confined to the victim's State of origin, and the Gujarat High Court (2019) extended it to a Rajasthan tribal whose community was not listed in Gujarat. In an answer, state the reservation rule, then note that the prevailing High Court view protects migrants under the Act, subject to a final ruling by the Supreme Court.

2. Why Jammu and Kashmir Was Excluded in 1989

  • Article 370. Jammu and Kashmir had a special constitutional position. Parliament could legislate for the State only on matters, and to the extent, specified by Presidential Orders under Article 370, principally the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 as amended from time to time.
  • A separate criminal law. The State had its own penal code, the Ranbir Penal Code, and its own Code of Criminal Procedure. Central criminal statutes routinely carried the words 'except the State of Jammu and Kashmir'.
  • Separate lists. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State were notified by separate Orders: the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order, 1956 and the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1989.
  • The result. For three decades, crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir were prosecuted under the general penal law of the State, without the SC/ST Act's special offences, Special Courts, bail bar or relief scheme.

3. The 2019 Changes and the Extension of the Act

Jammu and Kashmir: from exclusion to extension

Figure 2: Jammu and Kashmir: from exclusion to extension

  • C.O. 272 (5 August 2019). The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 superseded the 1954 Order and applied all provisions of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir.
  • C.O. 273 (6 August 2019). On the recommendation of Parliament, the President declared under Article 370(3) that all clauses of Article 370 would cease to operate, except clause (1) as modified.
  • Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Assented to on 9 August 2019, it reorganised the State into the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and the Union Territory of Ladakh (without a legislature), with effect from the appointed day, 31 October 2019.
  • Fifth Schedule, Table 1. The Schedule listed 106 central laws made applicable to both Union Territories, with the necessary amendments. Entry 98 is the SC/ST Act: 'In sub-section (2) of section 1, words, "except the State of Jammu and Kashmir" shall be omitted.'
  • State laws repealed. A large number of State laws were repealed, including the Ranbir Penal Code, and the IPC and CrPC were extended. Since 1 July 2024, the BNS and BNSS apply in both Union Territories as elsewhere.

Fifth Schedule, Table 1, Entry 98, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019

The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989: In sub-section (2) of section 1, words, "except the State of Jammu and Kashmir" shall be omitted.

4. Legal Consequences of the Extension

Jammu and Kashmir before and after 31 October 2019

Figure 3: Jammu and Kashmir before and after 31 October 2019

  • Prospective only. Under Article 20(1), no person can be convicted of an offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the act, or be subjected to a greater penalty than that law allowed. Acts committed in Jammu and Kashmir before 31 October 2019 cannot be prosecuted as offences under the SC/ST Act; they remain governed by the law then in force.
  • Who is protected. The victim must belong to a community notified under the Jammu and Kashmir Orders (or, for Ladakh, the Orders as they apply to it). The Act's protection therefore depends on those lists.
  • Machinery. Special Courts and Exclusive Special Courts must be designated under Section 14, Special Public Prosecutors appointed under Section 15, and the 1995 Rules, including relief under Annexure I and the monitoring committees, apply.
  • Both Union Territories. The extension covers Ladakh as well as Jammu and Kashmir, a significant change for Ladakh, where Scheduled Tribes make up a large part of the population.
  • Procedural bar on anticipatory bail. Sections 18 and 18A apply in both Union Territories, as they do everywhere else.

💡 Analogy: switching on the lights in a room

Before 2019, the SC/ST Act was a set of lights wired through the whole house except one room. The Reorganisation Act did not install new lights; it simply removed the seven words ('except the State of Jammu and Kashmir') that kept the switch in that room turned off. The lights come on from the moment of switching, not backwards in time, which is Article 20(1).

5. Constitutional Validity of the 2019 Changes

📖 In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, 2023 INSC 1058 (decided 11 December 2023)

Facts: Petitions challenged C.O. 272, C.O. 273, the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

Held: A five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud held that Article 370 was a temporary provision and that the President had the power under Article 370(3) to declare that it ceased to operate, and upheld C.O. 273. It held paragraph 2 of C.O. 272, which used Article 367 to amend Article 370(3) indirectly, to be ultra vires, but upheld the application of all provisions of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370(1)(d). It upheld the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh. On the conversion of the State of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory, it did not decide the question in view of the Union's assurance that statehood would be restored, and directed that elections to the Legislative Assembly be held by 30 September 2024.

Ratio: The abrogation of the special status and the full application of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir are valid. The judgment did not deal with the SC/ST Act, but its consequence is that central laws extended by the Reorganisation Act, including the SC/ST Act, apply there on the same footing as elsewhere.

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir were held in September and October 2024.

6. The 2024 Expansion of the Jammu and Kashmir Scheduled Tribes List

In February 2024, Parliament passed the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024, adding four communities to the Scheduled Tribes list for Jammu and Kashmir: the Pahari ethnic group, the Paddari tribe, Koli and Gadda Brahmin. Because Section 2(1)(c) of the SC/ST Act adopts the constitutional definition, the class of persons protected by the Act in Jammu and Kashmir expanded automatically from the date the amendment took effect, without any change to the Act itself.

7. Quick Revision and Memory Aids

  • 'Extent is where, commencement is when'. Section 1(2) versus Section 1(3).
  • 'Seven words removed'. 'except the State of Jammu and Kashmir' omitted from Section 1(2).
  • '272, 273, 34'. C.O. 272 (5 August 2019), C.O. 273 (6 August 2019), and the Reorganisation Act (Act 34 of 2019).
  • '31-10-19'. Appointed day: the SC/ST Act extends to both new Union Territories.
  • 'Entry 98 of 106'. The Act's place in Table 1 of the Fifth Schedule.
  • 'No going back: 20(1)'. The extension is prospective only.
  • '56 and 89'. Constitution (J&K) Scheduled Castes Order, 1956 and Scheduled Tribes Order, 1989.
  • 'PPKG 2024'. Pahari, Paddari, Koli, Gadda Brahmin added to the J&K ST list.
  • 'Temporary 370'. In Re Article 370 (11 December 2023).

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Does the SC/ST Act apply in Jammu and Kashmir?

Yes, since 31 October 2019. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (Fifth Schedule, Table 1, entry 98) omitted the words 'except the State of Jammu and Kashmir' from Section 1(2).

Can an atrocity committed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 be tried under the Act?

No. Article 20(1) bars conviction under a law that was not in force when the act was committed. Such acts are governed by the law then in force in the State.

Does the Act apply in Ladakh?

Yes. Table 1 of the Fifth Schedule made the listed central laws, including the SC/ST Act, applicable to both the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh.

Who performs the State Government's functions under the Act in a Union Territory?

The Union Territory's administration: the Administrator appointed under Article 239 and, where the Union Territory has a legislature, its government within the framework of the governing statute.

Does Section 10 externment apply everywhere in India?

No. It applies to Scheduled Areas and tribal areas referred to in Article 244 and, since the 2015 amendment, to areas identified as atrocity-prone under Section 21(2)(vii). The rest of the Act applies throughout India.

9. Related Topics and Provisions