Supreme Court verdict on SC/ST Act: RPI(A) to file review petition, says Athawale

The apex court had on March 20 had underlined that “law should not result in caste hatred,” and ruled out automatic registration of FIR and arrest in complaint under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.

“The government is studying the matter. But our lawyers feel we should take a stand as a party. In the review petition, we will state that it was after detailed discussions in Parliament that offences under this Act were made non-bailable. By diluting it, atrocities against Dalits will increase,” he said. Athawale earlier told The Indian Express that he had spoken to BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the issue on Thursday.

The RPI(A) leader insisted that while there were no possibility of false cases in instances of serious atrocities committed against Dalits, even in the case of employment-related disputes, where there is the rare possibility of misuse, Dalits complain only after being put through much harassment.

“Dalits are often denied promotions, given bad posting, transferred at will. Only in such cases they slap atrocities act against their superiors,” he told The Indian Express.

Athawale said, in addition to the review petition, the RPI(A) will also file an intervening application in the Bhavanbhai Chavda versus Balchandra Mishra Special Leave Petition – currently being heard by a two-judge bench of Justices NV Ramana and S Abdul Nazeer and listed for April 2, 2018.

“The case is regarding similar issues, such as grant of anticipatory bail, and arrest as was addressed in the Mahajan order. It was therefore to be listed after the disposal of the Mahajan case,” said Athawale.