Supreme Court to pronounce judgment on Government's plea on SC/ST Act

The Supreme Court on October 1 will announce its judgement on the petition filed by the Centre against its judgement diluting various provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. A bench comprising of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Vineet Saran and Justice S Ravindra Bhat have come together to pass the judgement after the Centre has requested the top court to reconsider its verdict. The Centre filed a petition to review the verdict after facing backlash from the SC/ST community. The community came together to protest against the decision, with widespread protests occurring across the country. 

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Supreme Court on the SC/ST Act 

On March 20, 2018, the Supreme Court passed a judgement stating that the registration of criminal cases and automatic arrests under the SC/ST Act would be banned unless with the approval of the appointing authority. This triggered a nationwide protest conducted by the Dalit community. This judgement came in after at least 9 people were killed with several others injured during the Bharat Bandh. However, taking note of the nationwide protest, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel stated that those who are on the streets protesting have not read the document carefully. He further added that the Supreme Court is only concerned with putting 'innocent' people behind the bars, stating that they are not against the Act at all. 

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The SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act

The apex court had earlier announced that there would be no automatic arrest on a complaint filed under the Act. The apex court further introduced an anticipatory bail and a primilinary probe by the police before leading to the arrest of the accused. The Centre had filed the petition earlier and made amendments to the Act to overcome the top court's order. The amendments in the law were introduced in a bid to protect honest public servants discharging legitimate duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

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(With ANI inputs)