Congress demands inclusion of laws on atrocities against SC/STs in 9th Schedule

The Congress on Monday demanded that the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to insulate it from legal challenge.

A bill to amend the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to overturn the Supreme Court order that laid down certain safeguards in the law to prevent atrocities against people of scheduled castes and tribes, was introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, addressing the media at Parliament House, said the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, has been introduced in Parliament by the government after "considerable delay" and under "pressure" from various quarters.

“The Congress party demands that the Act should be brought under Schedule IX so that it cannot be challenged in courts.

“We also demand that all the cases registered on 2nd, 3rd April for participating in the agitation should be withdrawn and all the people who suffered during the agitation should be duly compensated,” Kharge said.

He alleged that the bill has been introduced keeping in view the assembly elections in 3-4 states in the next 7-8 months.

The people in their own party might have raised this matter directly or indirectly and to avoid the recurrence of incidents of April 2-3 Dalit protests, they are going to get this bill passed, Kharge said, adding that the Congress was supporting the bill.

The Congress party had been making concerted efforts to end this centuries-old malpractice of atrocities against SC/STs, he asserted.