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SC Court recalled its verdict diluting SC/ST Anti-Atrocities Law
Why in news?
- The SC recalled its verdict on SCST anti-atrocities Law which bent the written law to protect persons accused of committing atrocities against the SC’s/ST’s.
More in news
- Background
- The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, provided stringent provisions like “Denial of anticipatory bail (Section 18)”. However due to reports of alleged misuse of the act , the Supreme court had laid following rules as the safeguards:
(1) To grant anticipatory bail to accused persons
(2) A person can be arrested only if the ‘appointing authority’(in case of a public servant)or SP (in the case of others) approves such arrest.
(3) It also directed the police to conduct a preliminary enquiry on whether complaint under the 1989 law is “frivolous or motivated” before registering a case.
- This caused an uproar amongst dalits and a nation wide protest last year, which even turned violent in some places.
- The government therefore brought amendments to the act to negate the effect of SC ruling.
- The Govt also filed a review against the judgement.
- Recall of the Verdict
(1) SC observed that human failing and not caste is the reason behind lodging false complaints.
(2) It also said that the previous judgement was against “ basic human dignity” to treat all SC/ST community members as “a liar or crook”
(3) It also said that untouchability has not vanished in the last 70 years. Condition is worse in villages and remote areas where the fruits of development have not percolated down.
Sources
The Hindu