Facing pressure from Dalit leaders within the ruling alliance as well as from the Opposition, the Centre has decided to introduce a Bill to restore the original provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which the Supreme Court had struck down in a March ruling.
The Union Cabinet had given its nod to the Amendment Bill and the government would try to introduce it in Parliament during the ongoing session, Food Minister and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The decision comes ahead of a planned ‘Bharat bandh’ by Dalit groups on August 9.
The Amendment Bill seeks to insert three new clauses after Section 18 of the original Act. The first stipulates that for the purposes of the Act, “preliminary enquiry shall not be required for registration of a First Information Report against any person.” The second stipulates that the arrest of a person accused of having committed an offence under the Act would not require any approval, while the third says that the provisions of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — which deals with anticipatory bail — shall not apply to a case under this Act, “notwithstanding any judgment or order of any Court.”
Paswan hits out at critics
The Amendment Bill’s provisions were made public by Mr. Paswan, whose party had given the government an ultimatum to restore the stringent provisions by August 9. MPs from the Dalit and tribal communities — including several from the BJP and its allies — had backed the demand. Calling it a “historic decision,” Mr. Paswan said the Amendment Bill was “a slap in the face of everyone who has been criticising the Modi government as being anti-Dalit.”
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad declined to share details of the decision in the official post-Cabinet media briefing, citing the need to first inform Parliament. “This government is ready to do whatever is needed for the betterment of Dalits and Adivasis,” he said.
On March 20, the Supreme Court issued a slew of guidelines to protect people against arbitrary arrests under the Act, directing that public servants could be arrested only with the written permission of their appointing authority, while in the case of private employees, the Senior Superintendent of Police concerned should allow it. A preliminary inquiry should be conducted before the FIR was registered to check if the case fell within the ambit of the Act, and whether it was frivolous or motivated, the court ruled.
The ruling was greeted by a storm of protest from Dalit groups, which said the order diluted the law. On April 2, violence during a nationwide bandh left at least nine people dead and hundreds injured. However, the court refused to stay its ruling, leading to the demand from Dalit groups that the government introduce an ordinance or an Amendment Bill to restore the provisions. Protests intensified when the government appointed Justice A.K. Goel, who authored the March 20 verdict, as the Chairman of the National Green Tribunal on his retirement.
Protests increased when the government appointed Justice A.K. Goel, who authored the March 20 verdict, as chairman of the National Green Tribunal upon his retirement from the Supreme Court.
While Mr. Paswan and his party had demanded Justice Goel’s removal from the NGT, he said the issue had now been resolved with the proposed amendment. He also indicated that the need for a ‘Bharat bandh’ on August 9 had become unnecessary.
Published - August 01, 2018 06:18 pm IST
