Supreme Court issues directives to safeguard govt officials under SC/ST Act

With a view to prevent the misuse of provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (SC/ST Act), the Supreme Court on Tuesday held that there is no absolute bar for granting anticipatory bail in a matter under the Act.

The Apex Court also added that a public servant can be arrested after grant of approval by some senior officer.

The bench comprising of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit further noted that to avoid false implication of an innocent, preliminary enquiry will be done by the DSP to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and that the allegations are not frivolous.

The top court further observed that the Government official cannot be prosecuted on mere allegation of committing an offence under the Act without the sanction of appointing authority.