SC/STs want revision of Supreme Court ruling

Ongole: The Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Protection Forum and its supporting dalit and tribal organisations organised a Maha Dharna at Prakasam District Collectorate and formed a human chain at Church Center here on Monday.

The organisations have been protesting against the Supreme Court ruling of safeguarding the SC/ ST Prevention of Atrocities Act from misuse and demanding the government to file a review petition in the apex court and create a mechanism to protect the victims and witnesses first.

Kankanala Anjaneyulu, convener and Ballikurava Venkat co-convener of the forum said that Justice Adarsh Kumar Goyal and Justice UU Lalith delivered a ruling in the case booked under SC/ ST Act, Subhash Kasinath Mahajan Vs Maharashtra & ANR and opined that the act to protect the dalits and tribals was being misused and instituted safeguards like primary enquiry before filing the FIR, arrest the accused only if he/she found guilty in the enquiry, seek permission from appointing authority if the accused is a public servant and grant anticipatory bail if the complaint is found false. 

They said that the court considered the NCRB records for the 2015. Based on that, about 10 percent of the files cases are false cases. They argued that the nearly 80 percent of the accused in the cases of cheating, extortions and murders are being acquitted as per the latest NCRB records and questioned if the apex court considers them to say the sections are being misused.

The other leaders asked the Union government to immediately file a review petition in the Supreme Court on the ruling of the bench consisting of upper caste justices and safeguard the only legal protection for the dalits and tribals who are still facing discrimination in society. They said that the authorities were not always ready to accept complaints from the downtrodden. 

Even if the dalits and tribals able to file a complaint, they influence the investigating officer and warn the victim and witness families of dire consequences, and they are the reason for many cases being ended up as false cases.

The SCs and STs demanded that the government introduce foolproof mechanism to protect the victims and witnesses and their families in the SC ST act from the threats of the accused and their families and then come to an opinion on misuse of the act.