Supreme Court decision on SC/ST Act 'appropriate': UP minister

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar today supported the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, arguing that "innocent people" were harassed.

"The decision of the Supreme Court is absolutely appropriate, as the SC/ST Act is widely misused similar to the Dowry Prohibition Act. Innocent people are harassed in the garb of this Act. A case should be registered only after probe by a magistrate-level officer," Rajbhar told reporters here.

The president of the SBSP, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led UP government, added that the guilty should not be spared, but "innocent person should not be unnecessarily harassed".

Violent protests erupted today during a nationwide bandh called by Dalit outfits against the dilution of the stringent provisions of the SC/ST Act, leaving one dead and disrupting normal life in many states.

On March 20, the Supreme Court ruled that a public servant can only be arrested under the SC/ST Act after approval of the appointing authority. A non-public servant can be arrested after approval by a senior superintendent of police.