A meeting was called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 3. Swaraj Vidwaan, who was part of the meeting, said the government was unhappy with the Supreme Court order on SC/ST act
Swaraj Vidwaan, member of the Fifth National Commission for Scheduled Castes, on Wednesday said the government was against the Supreme Court order on the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and called it a “Tughlaqi diktat”.
Vidwaan is in Pune to review cases of atrocities filed by members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Pune region. “The NDA government is against this order and the SC must again review its order which is a Tughlaqi diktat,” said Vidwaan, adding that the order did not completely dilute the Act as erroneously assumed by a section of society.
Vidwaan said the government attempted to bring relevant changes in 2016. Among the attempted changes were a compensation of Rs 8.5 lakh to families of victims, pension of Rs 5,000 to families, a government job or cultivable land to the family, in case the victims were homeless and had lost the sole earning member. The commission recently met President Ram nath Kovind and the Union government to decide further proceedings.
A meeting was called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 3. Vidwaan, who was part of the meeting, said the government was unhappy with the Supreme Court order.
“The PM, during the meeting, admitted to knowing the difficulties of implementing this Act and what harm it could pose in case it was diluted,” she said. Vidwaan said the earlier Act must be reinstated so that such insecurity or instances of violence are not experienced by community members.