Amendment to Atrocities Act: HC notice to Union min, state home dept

Nagpur: Two petitioners have moved the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court challenging the constitutional validity of amendment carried out in the Section 4 (1) of Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989. The amended Act came into effect from January 26, 2016.
A division bench comprising Justice Pradip Deshmukh and Justice Rohit Deo, on Friday, issued notices to respondents, including Union social justice and empowerment ministry and state home department, asking them to file a reply within four weeks.

The petitioners — Bhaskar Dewase and Girish Nishan — through counsel Rajnish Vyas, contended that amendment to the Act specified that if any public servant other than scheduled caste (SC) or tribes (ST) wilfully neglects his duty required to be performed by them, s/he will be punished with one year of imprisonment. The petitioners said the amendment is ultimately destroying the basic principle of criminal jurisprudence that says investigation should be carried out in fair and proper manner.

“This creates reservation in the criminal/service law which gives immunity to wrongdoers on the basis of their caste getting minimum punishment prescribed for commission of serious offence. Hence, this provision gives the license and protection to the erring officers,” they said.

The petitioners prayed for declaring the amendment as ultra vires (beyond legal authority of the respondents) to the Constitution of India, especially to the Articles 14, 15, 16 and 21 which says every citizen is equal in the nation and no one should be discriminated on the grounds of caste, race and religion socially and in any employment or office.