SC ruling on SC/ST act: Congress MPs protest, demand Centre to file review petition

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, along with other party MPs on Friday protested against the Supreme Court’s ruling on SC/ST act, demanding Modi government to file a review petition.

Earlier on Tuesday, the apex court had laid down new guidelines that protect public servants from immediate arrest after a complaint is filed against them under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Following the SC's ruling, Congress leaders gathered outside the Gandhi Statue in Parliament and shouted slogans: “Daliton ke samman mein, Rahul Gandhi maidan mein (Rahul Gandhi fighting for the respect of Dalits).”

Reacting to the Congress’s protest, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that Rahul Gandhi was misleading the nation while trying to score “political points”.

“Rahul Gandhi wants to score political points & mislead on every issue. Govt of India has a clear stand that it is against any kind of atrocities against Dalits, SCs & STs,” Kumar said.

Earlier on March 21, Rahul Gandhi had accused the "complicit" Modi government of working in favour of “anti-Dalit” BJP and RSS.

“The SC/ST Act is the most important instrument to prevent atrocities on Dalits/Adivasis. A complicit Modi Govt failed to defend it in the Supreme Court.  The PM must not abdicate his duty in favour of the anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP/RSS,” Rahul tweeted.

Under the new SC guidelines, the arrest can be made only after a preliminary inquiry conducted by a senior officer, not below the rank of deputy superintendent.

The guidelines were aimed at preventing misuse of the Atrocities Act as it was observed that the law has been “used to file false complaints to promote caste hatred”.

“To avoid false implication of an innocent, a preliminary enquiry may be conducted by the DSP concerned to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and that the allegations are not frivolous or motivated,” said a bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit.