After the Congress, NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party too has asked the government to file a review petition against the Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The Court ruling is aimed at preventing misuse of the law. Under the existing provisions, merely filing a complain under the act empowers the police to immediately arrest an accused without preliminary investigation.
Clearly miffed by government’s lackadaisical legal approach, Lok Janshakti Party’s parliamentary party head Chirag Paswan said the ruling took away the strongest instrument the dalits had. “We will be filing a review petition on our own. And we demand that the government too does that. The ruling makes the law completely ineffective and toothless,” Mr. Paswan said.
His father and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, however, said that they have not yet reached out to the BJP on the issue.
The Left too protested against the SC ruling. Communist Party of India MP D. Raja said it exposed the BJP, which has been “trying to appropriate Ambedkar” since coming to power.
“A law always exists in the backdrop of a social reality. Even today you will find instances of sexual violence against dalits, them being denied drinking water from public wells, and so on. So how you can you dilute the law?” Mr. Raja asked.
He said the matter should be adjudicated by a larger constitutional bench.
