SC/ST Act verdict: SC reserves order on Centre's plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on a review petition filed by Centre seeking recall of the March 20, 2018 judgement diluting stringent provisions of immediate arrest and no anticipatory bail for the accused on a complaint filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit wrapped up the hearing in the matter wherein the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention to Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018 which had restored the stringent provisions in the special law after a huge political furore.

The court had earlier refused to stay the operation of the amendment to the law brought in after the top court's judgement. The Centre had maintained that the matter concerned the communities which faced thousands of years atrocities, suppression and oppression. It had cited statistics to indicate various instances of Dalits' still facing discrimination in the country.

A batch of petitions were also filed by Prathvi Raj Chauhan and others, challenging the validity of the amendment.

Justice A K Goel, who authored the March 20, 2018 judgement in the bench comprising Justice Lalit, had superannuated. The court had then found rampant misuse of the stringent SC/ST Act and held that there shall be no immediate arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

Parliament on August 9, 2018 had passed the bill to overturn the apex court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under the law.