Top court agrees to urgent hearing on SC/ST Act
Supreme Court will hear the Centre's plea seeking review of its March 20 judgment on May 3.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the Centre’s plea seeking review of its March 20 judgment on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act) on May 3.
Attorney General KK Venugopal mentioned the matter for early hearing before a bench comprising Justices AK Goel and Deepak Gupta and said he had already filed his written submission in the matter.
The bench agreed to the urgent hearing and posted it for May 3.
The March 20 judgment did away with the provision of mandatory arrest under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The judgement led to a nation-wide outrage by the Dalits and tribals resulting in loss of several lives.
The Centre had moved the apex court on April 2 seeking review of its March 20 judgement.
The government, in its review petition, told the Supreme Court that its March 20 verdict will violate Article 21 of the Constitution for the SC/ST communities and sought restoration of the provisions of the Act.
The apex court had on March 20 said that on “several occasions”, innocent citizens were being termed as accused and public servants deterred from performing their duties, which was never the intention of the legislature while enacting the SC/ST Act.