SC order on SC/ST Act due to policies of BJP, RSS: Cong

NEWDELHI:THE Congress Wednesday demanded a review of the Supreme Court order banning immediate arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, while alleging a rise in violence against Dalits under the BJP government.

Several senior Congress leaders suggested that the order was the result of the policies of BJP and its ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and accused the two of “conspiring to end reservation”.

“The SC/ST Act is the most important instrument to prevent atrocities on Dalits/adivasis. A complicit Modi Govt failed to defend it in the Supreme Court. The PM must not abdicate his duty in favour of the anti-dalit mindset of the BJP/RSS,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Wednesday.

Earlier, expressing concern over the judgement, party spokesperson Anand Sharma asked the Centre to clarify its stand. “There is a feeling of insecurity among the SCS/STS and other oppressed classes. We feel there should be a review of this decision, which will be in national interest. If it is not reviewed, it will be very unfortunate,” Sharma told reporters.

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed the allegations, insisting that the Centre will comment after studying the judgment. However, he said, the Congress should check its own track record of working for Dalits in the past 70 years, out of which “members of one family” had ruled India for 40 years.

A bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit ruled Tuesday that arrests cannot be made under the Act without prior permission. It also held that a court can grant anticipatory bail if it, prima facie, finds the complaint to be an abuse of law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail or harass.

Activists have said the order will hurt the law, which already has a low rate of conviction – just 15.4% in 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.