Centre should bring ordinance on SC/ST law

Former Union minister Sharad Yadav today termed the Centre's review plea in the Supreme Court against its ruling on a law on atrocities against Dalits an "eyewash" and demanded that the government should rather bring an ordinance.

Yadav, who parted ways with Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, following the latter's alliance with the BJP last year, said misuse of a law should not be a cause to weaken it and noted that crimes against the members of scheduled castes and tribes had gone up by 40 per cent and 118 per cent respectively, according to official data.

"The conviction rate under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was anyway significantly lower than the national conviction rate for other crimes. Therefore, the government should bring an ordinance as an immediate relief," he said in a statement.

"The review plea is nothing but an eyewash," Yadav added.

He also addressed a Dalit group at Jantar Mantar here today.

Yadav rejected the argument against the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act that it was being misused, saying all laws were misused and it should not be a reason for weakening them.