Supreme Court reverses its SC/ST act decision
The Supreme Court on Tuesday withdrew the March 20, 2018 decision of the apex court to dilute the provisions of arrest under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Protection from Atrocities) Act. The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the decision of a two-member bench to dilute the provisions of the SC / ST Act.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Justice MR Shah and Justice BR Gavai pronounced the verdict on the reconsideration petition of the Central Government. The bench said that the struggle of Scheduled Castes and Tribes for equality has not yet ended in the country. The bench said that people of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are still facing untouchability and indecency in the society and they lead ostracized lives.
The apex court said that under Article 15 of the Constitution, people belonging to the Scheduled Castes are protected, but in spite of this they are being discriminated against. On the issue of misuse of the provisions of this law and filing false cases, the court said that it is not due to the caste system, but the result of human failure.
It is worth noting that a division bench of Justice Mishra and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit submitted the reconsideration petitions of the Center and others to a three-member bench. A two-member bench in March 2018 diluted the provisions of the SC / ST law, which the Center and others requested the court to reconsider.
In this judgment given last year, the apex court had admitted that due to the system of immediate arrest under the SC / ST Act, many times innocent people have to go to jail. The court stayed the arrest immediately. The government had filed a review petition against it. On which today the decision of the bench of three judges has come.
A three-member bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice MR Shah and Justice BR Gavai completed the hearing on the review petition on 18 September. The bench, while commenting on the March 20, 2018 decision of a two-member bench of the court, questioned whether any verdict could be pronounced against the spirit of the Constitution.
The bench had indicated to give some instructions to bring ‘equality’ in accordance with the provisions of the law, saying that even after 70 years of independence, ‘discrimination and untouchability’ is being practiced against members of scheduled castes and tribes in the country. Not only this, the court took a serious stance on the practice of manual scavenging and the death of the people of this community cleaning sewer and drains, saying that nowhere in the world ‘people are sent to the gas chamber to die’ .
The bench had said, “It is against the spirit of the Constitution.” Can any such order be given against any law and constitution only because the law is being misused? Can a person be castigated on the basis of a person’s caste? A person of general category can also file a fake FIR. Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the apex court verdict of March 2018 was not in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution.
While completing the hearing, the bench said that we will pass some instructions in our decision to bring equality. On September 13, the apex court submitted a review petition of the Center to a three-judge bench. Following the court’s March 20, 2018 verdict, violent protests erupted in various parts of the country. The apex court, in its judgment in 2018, referred to the massive misuse of the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against government employees and private individuals, and said that any immediate arrest would not be done in cases filed under this law.
