Centre moves SC with review petition against verdict on SC/ST Act

The Centre today moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its recent judgement by which safeguards were put on the provisions for immediate arrest under the SC/ST Act.

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 Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) 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 Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The top court had said that unless the exclusion of anticipatory bail is limited to "genuine cases and inapplicable to cases where there is no prima facie case was made out, there will be no protection available to innocent citizens".

It had said that "in view of the acknowledged abuse of law of arrest in cases under the Atrocities Act, arrest of a public servant can only be after approval of the appointing authority and of a non-public servant after approval by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) which may be granted in appropriate cases if considered necessary for reasons recorded."