New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- The Supreme Court has held that an alleged casteist insult made inside a closed room cannot automatically be treated as an offence under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, unless it is shown that members of the public were present and could see or hear the remarks.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by a school manager against an Allahabad High Court ruling that had declined to quash criminal proceedings initiated against him under the SC/ST Act.

The dispute traces back to a disagreement between the complainant and the school administration involving his two sons, who were students there. The complainant t...