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SC uphold changes in SC/ST Atrocities Law
February 13 , 2020
1735 days
951
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- The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018.
- The Amendment Act nullified the Court’s 20th March, 2018 judgment of diluting the stringent provisions of the original SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
- Petitions were filed challenging the 2018 Amendment Act on the grounds of
- Violation of the fundamental right to equality (Article 14) and
- Personal liberty (Article 21).
Salient Features of the Amendment Act, 2018
- It added Section 18A to the original Act.
- It states that the preliminary enquiry shall not be required for registration of a First Information Report against any person.
- The police can arrest the offender without a warrant and start an investigation into the case without taking any orders from the court.
- It creates provisions for states to declare areas with high levels of caste violence to be “atrocity-prone”.
- It provides for the punishment for wilful neglect of duties by non-SC/ST public servants.
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