Supreme Court
Amid the ongoing violent protests across the nation over the dilution of the SC/ST Act, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hold an open-court hearing on the review petition filed by the Centre.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra agreed to set up the original bench which passed the SC/ST verdict to hear the review petition.
The decision by the apex court comes a day after it declined an urgent hearing of the review petition by the Centre, challenging its order banning automatic arrest and registration of cases for alleged harassment of SCs and STs.
All India Federation of SC/ST organisations, a conglomerate of nearly 150 employees groups, said large-scale nationwide violence has taken place in which several people have lost their lives and therefore the petition should be heard urgently.
The top court had recently banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.
The law protects the marginalised communities against discrimination and atrocities.
A delegation of NDA's SC and ST MPs, led by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Gehlot, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to discuss the apex court judgement diluting provisions of the SC/ST atrocities act.
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) have also conveyed their views and demanded a review of the verdict, saying the original Act, as it existed before the SC verdict, should be restored.
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act, 1989 was amended recently to include new offences and to ensure speedy justice to victims. The amended law had come into effect from January 26, 2016.
