The Supreme Court has agreed for an urgent open court hearing today of the Centre’s review petition on the apex court’s new guidelines that allegedly diluted the SC/ST Act.
The petition seeks to review the SC/ST judgement passed on March 20, which prohibits immediate arrests based on complaints of scheduled castes or tribes people, and mandates a seven-day preliminary enquiry. This was necessary, the court had said, to prevent the "rampant misuse of the tough provisions of the law."
The review will be heard by a bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit – the same bench that passed the original order.
The Centre had called the order a dilution of the SC/ST Act and filed a review petition on Monday. Attorney General, KK Venugopal sought a stay on the operation of the judgment citing law-and-order problem in the country.
The Supreme Court judgement on Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, lead to a huge outcry in the nation and thousands took to streets and nine people were killed including several injured.
The violent protests led to closure of schools, halted communication and transport services, including rail, destruction of public property and arson in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Utar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab, among other states.
With Agency Inputs
