Letter to BS: SC had good reasons to intervene in SC/ST Act implementation

40,774 cases were registered under this Act in 2016 out of which only 78.3 per cent were chargesheeted

Apropos the letter captioned “SC/ST Act controversy” (April 4). The Supreme Court (SC) had good reasons to intervene in the implementation of the SC/ST anti-atrocity Act, 1989. The meaning of “atrocity” in the Act is very wide — it even covers saying the caste of the person in public as an offence if it is seen as causing humiliation, a subjective assessment. And yet, it provides for immediate arrest on filing first information report (FIR) and denies bail to the accused. According to the data shared by the government in Lok Sabha, 40,774 cases were registered under this Act in