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The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India had upheld the constitutional validity of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018 which was enacted to nullify the decision made on March 20, 2018 by the SC which had diluted the provisions of the Act.
In March 20, 2018, the SC gave a verdict which banned the registration of criminal cases and automatic arrests under the act. It also gave the public servants not to be prosecuted without the approval of the appointing authority. The intention of the SC to give such a statement is to protect the bonafide public servants discharging their duties. On October 1, 2019 the SC had recalled two of its direction which provided no absolute bar on grant of anticipatory bail and prior inquiry before arresting any public servants and private individuals under the Act. On a petition filed questioning the constitutional validity of Articles 14, 19 and 21 and said that the Act would be stuck down as it is violative of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.
But there is a controversy that the current government is branded as a anti-Dalit, introduced an amendment to the Act restoring the original provisions of the law. This was not welcomed by the upper caste group as being born out from that group cannot act as a ground for presumption of guilt as to deprive a person of his liberty without an opportunity before an independent forum, that the power of arrest should be exercised only after complying with the safeguards of scrutiny, credible information and just and reasonable procedure under Sections 41 and 41A of The Code of Criminal Procedure.
The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had recalled the two conditions given by the two Judge Bench on their March 20 verdict by allowing the centre’s review. It said a court can grant anticipatory bail only in the cases where a prima facie case is not made out. Conclusively, the SC had upheld the Act that made its previous judgement ineffective.
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