All State Governments are on the “same page with the Centre” on the review petition in the recent Supreme Court verdict directing a thorough probe before arrest in the complaints under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“The Centre has made abundantly clear that there should be no dilution of the SC/ST Act. It has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court for recall of its order. As far as states are concerned, they are also on board. They are in touch with the Centre and many of them are taking steps. Some have already announced that they will associate with the Centre,” a Ministry official said.
On March 20, the Supreme Court’s Bench comprising Justices Adarsh Goel and UU lalit directed the police to conduct thorough probe before arrest , after finding many misuses in the SC/ST Act. However this ignited protests from Dalit organisations as an attempt to dilute the provisions of the Act. Centre as well as many BJP-ruled States and left parties ruled Kerala state also filed review petition against this land mark judgment. The apex court also rejected the demand for the immediate revoking of their directions.
Chhattisgarh has announced its intention to challenge the Apex court order while Kerala has already filed a review petition. To protests the March 20 order, some Dalit groups had called a Bharat Bandh on April 2 during which at least 12 people were killed in violence. The Apex Court had observed that protesting organizations has not yet read the judgment and rejected their demands for immediate withdrawal of the judgment.
The Central Government had on April 2 filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its verdict that laid down stringent ‘safeguards’ before registering a case under the Act.
The Apex court turning down many petitions said that the automatic arrest based on a complaint was not legally tenable, as the arrest was not made without any probe and ultimately leading to misuse of the Act.