SC/ST Atrocities (prevention) law: Issue ordinance against Supreme Court order by April 14, says Jignesh Mevani

“We announce from this stage that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government fails to assure Dalits to bring in an ordinance before April 14 then we assure them that on April 14, the Dalit community will not let any of these (BJP) leaders touch Ambedkar’s statue. This call is not from Jignesh Mevani but from entire country’s Dalits and tribals. So, if you believe that this law should be saved, then the government has to bring an ordinance,” Mevani said.

Accusing the Modi government of backing the alleged dilution in the SC/ST law, he said that the Central government did not present the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on Dalit atrocities to the apex court during the hearing of the case and the Advocate General did not appear in the case, and instead sent his junior to the court. “The Central government supported this,” he said, adding, “We do not expect justice, so we demand that if tomorrow the review petition is set aside, in that case, like the Shah Bano judgment, the BJP government should bring in an ordinance and declare this judgment cancelled.”

“Despite all the provision of the Act, the picture is clear that what our (Dalits’) condition is. Over this, the Supreme Court is saying that this law is mostly misused and Dalits use it to blackmail. This forces me to say that the Supreme Court’s this statement is a judicial atrocity on Dalits,” he said.

Citing the NCRB data, he said that every week, 11 Dalits are killed, every day six Dalit women are raped and every 15 minutes an incident of atrocity on Dalit and tribals takes place.  He claimed that police in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan detained Dalit leaders and activists following the April 2 bandh and were beaten up in custody. “We will take revenge for all this,” he added.

Other speakers at the seminar were former Bombay High Court judge Justice (retd) B G Kolse Patil, former secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association Ashok Arora, Gujarati writer Chandu Maheriya among others.