New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a petition challenging amendments made to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2015 and 2018.
The amendments expanded the list of offences classified as atrocities under the law and introduced measures aimed at expediting trials, besides providing enhanced protection to victims and witnesses, according to the petition.
The 2018 amendments were introduced following the Supreme Court’s judgment in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs State of Maharashtra. The judgment had provided for preliminary inquiries and prior approval before arrests could be made under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in certain circumstances.
The amendments subsequently removed these requirements and restored the stringent provisions of the original legislation.
The petitioner, Brijbhushan Saini, argued that the amended provisions were “manifestly arbitrary, draconian, and disproportionate”. He contended that the changes created a separate caste-based criminal justice framework and alleged that they could result in misuse of the law and discrimination against persons belonging to communities outside the SC/ST categories.
Saini further submitted that there could be no presumption that a person belonging to a non-SC/ST community had committed an offence merely because allegations had been made under the Act. He claimed that complaints could, in some cases, arise from personal disputes, political rivalry or attempts to extort money.
The Supreme Court’s decision leaves the challenged amendments in operation. The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act continues to provide specific legal protections to members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes against offences recognised as atrocities under the legislation.
The amendments of 2015 and 2018 remain part of the statutory framework governing investigation, prosecution and protection of victims and witnesses in cases registered under the Act.
