SC agrees to open hearing on Centre's review petition on SC/ST Act
The Supreme Court will hear the Centre's plea seeking to review the March 20 verdict putting safeguards on arrest under the the stringent SC/ST Act at 2 pm today.
The apex court agreed to hear the review petition after Attorney General KK Venugopal referred to large scale violence and loss of lives and property during yesterday's Bharat Bandh.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to constitute the original bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit at 2 pm to hear the review plea.
The AG said it is an emergency situation as large scale violence has taken place and sought urgent hearing of the review petition today itself.
The Supreme Court today agreed to an open court hearing on Centre's review petition over judgement on SC/ST Act.
The Centre had filed a review petition on Monday against a recent verdict of a two-judge bench which introduced safeguards to prevent misuse of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The Centre sought an open court hearing and said that the safeguards would render the law toothless.
The review plea filed by the Ministry of Social Justice argued the safeguards would dilute the objective of protecting the marginalised sections and expose them to more violence and atrocities in a caste-ridden milieu while urging the court to recall the ruling.
In it's March 20 order, the apex court had ruled that anticipatory bail should be granted by the courts unless there was a prima facie case against the accused under the Act. The court had also instituted a mechanism under which the preliminary enquiries must be carried out before any arrest of the accused.
SC had also ruled against arbitrary, immediate arrests of any accused, insisting it must be done with the written sanction of the competent authority in case of public servants and senior police officials in case of others to prevent such misuse.
(Inputs from PTI)
The apex court agreed to hear the review petition after Attorney General KK Venugopal referred to large scale violence and loss of lives and property during yesterday's Bharat Bandh.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to constitute the original bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit at 2 pm to hear the review plea.
The AG said it is an emergency situation as large scale violence has taken place and sought urgent hearing of the review petition today itself.
The Supreme Court today agreed to an open court hearing on Centre's review petition over judgement on SC/ST Act.
The Centre had filed a review petition on Monday against a recent verdict of a two-judge bench which introduced safeguards to prevent misuse of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The Centre sought an open court hearing and said that the safeguards would render the law toothless.
The review plea filed by the Ministry of Social Justice argued the safeguards would dilute the objective of protecting the marginalised sections and expose them to more violence and atrocities in a caste-ridden milieu while urging the court to recall the ruling.
In it's March 20 order, the apex court had ruled that anticipatory bail should be granted by the courts unless there was a prima facie case against the accused under the Act. The court had also instituted a mechanism under which the preliminary enquiries must be carried out before any arrest of the accused.
SC had also ruled against arbitrary, immediate arrests of any accused, insisting it must be done with the written sanction of the competent authority in case of public servants and senior police officials in case of others to prevent such misuse.
(Inputs from PTI)