Rajya Sabha clears SC/ST Bill

Parliament on Thursday passed a Bill to overturn a Supreme Court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest of those guilty as per the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989 with the Rajya Sabha unanimously giving its nod by voice vote to the amendments.  The Lok Sabha had already passed it on August 6.

The new Bill rules out any provision for anticipatory bail to the accused notwithstanding any court order.  Moreover, the investigating officer can now file an FIR without preliminary probe as directed by the apex court and the arrest will not be subject to any approval.

The House later also passed two other Bills, including the National Sports University Bill, 2018 and the Homeopathy Central Council (amendment) Bill, 2018 amidst din created by the Congress.

They came into the well raising slogans and squatted there demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into alleged wrongdoings in the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Replying to the debate on the SC/ST Bill in the Upper House, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot said more than a dozen MPs from various parties spoke and supported the Bill.

Asserting that the NDA Government was committed to uphold rights of SC and ST people, he said the bill also provides for setting up special courts as suggested by some members.

In fact, at least 14 States have set up 195 special courts for deciding cases related to SC and SC Act. Some States have declared District and Session Courts as special court for the purpose, the Minister said.

Elaborating on the bill, he said the police as per the bill will have to present a challan in the court within two months of FIR and the case has to disposed off the by courts within two months thereafter to ensure speedy justice.

The minister also maintained that the amendment in this bill was not brought due to "any pressure" as claimed by some MPs and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was committed to further the cause of poor and marginalized.

Some Opposition members said the amended bill was tabled after nationwide bandh following the apex court order in March this year resulting in the death of nine persons.  They also claimed the bill was brought under pressure from the Opposition and NDA coalition partners ahead of proposed country wide protest later this month to demand restoration of the provisions of the law which, the Dalit groups allege, were diluted by a Supreme Court ruling of March 20.

These groups were demanding that the Government overturn the Supreme Court ruling of March 20, saying it had "diluted" and rendered "toothless" the law against atrocities faced by the weakest sections of the society by putting additional safeguards against arrest of the accused.

Participating in the debate, Kumari Selja(Congress) said atrocities against Dalits had increased during the present regime and every 15 minutes a crime against Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes person was committed. 

Moreover, conviction rate was poor with only 25 per cent in the case of SC and 20 per cent regarding STs, she said adding the intentions of the Government in protecting the weakest sections were questionable.

Kirodi Lal Meena(BJP) sought to counter Selja's claim about the NDA Government's intentions and it led to heated exchanges amongst the ruling and opposition benches.  Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the house for 10 minutes.

Ram Gopal Yadav(SP) favoured adequate representation of judges from SC, ST and OBC communities in judiciary to address the issues pertaining to these communities and ensure social justice. 

And supporting the bill, Abir Ranjan Biswas (TMC) said his party was backing the bill and alleged that intentions of the Government regarding the marginalised were "fake."

Sarojini Hembram (BJD), Ram Chandra Prasad Singh of JD (U0, K Somaprasad (CPI-M), Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), K Keshava Rao (TRS), Rajaram (BSP), Narendra Jadhav (nominated), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), V Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP), D Raja (CPI), Ram Kumar Kashyap (Independent) and Wansuk Syiem (Cong) also supported the measure.