While laying down procedural safeguards and trying to strike a balance between protecting individual liberties and preserving the spirit of a law in favour of oppressed sections, the Supreme Court has virtually conceded to the argument that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 were being misused by the Dalits to harass the upper caste and feudal gentry. There is no denying that till today the Dalits are the most exploited lot in the country. They are also the worst victims of the denial of the justice.
In fact, the judiciary and the judges are the right authorities to testify that of the crores of cases pending for disposal relate to agrarian violence and in at least 30 per cent the Dalits are involved in these cases. It is also a fact that at the lower judicial level most of those convicted belong to the Dalit sections. They have to suffer as these people are poor and cannot afford to hire a high class advocate to defend them. In this backdrop the SC/ST Act has provided them with much respite.
Supreme Court might be correct in its perception that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is being rampantly misused to settle personal scores and harass adversaries. But it must have the allegations thoroughly probed. The possibility of rich and communal people and forces conspiring to defeat the Act cannot be ruled out.
It is pertinent to point out that the law meant to provide protection to women is being misused to settle personal scores. This has also been mentioned by the courts in some of the cases but there is no move to review it or dump it. These Acts simply elevate the standing and political stature of the politicians. The most important reason for not challenging is this does not question patriarchy and the male hegemony.
But the SC/ST Atrocities Act or SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act has this element of assertion. This is being viewed and projected as an instrument to assert the class interest of the Dalits. Naturally this mechanism is not acceptable to the rich and landed gentry. Even the author of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act says Supreme Court’s March 20 judgment is a ‘serious setback’. He also urged the Centre to seek review by a larger bench.
The approach of the Union government has been quite skewed. During the NDA rule the attacks on Dalits have multiplied manifold. The Dalits too have become assertive. A new brand of aggressive dalit leaders have emerged. The poor performance of the BJP owes to their resurgence. It is also a known fact the feudal landed gentry have been members of the BJP for years and they have been instrumental in perpetrating violence in rural areas of particularly the eastern states.
Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad ought to know that the mere scope for misuse of an Act is not a ground to invalidate it. Constitution courts seek to preserve the spirit of such legislation on the one hand and to evolve guidelines to prevent its misuse on the other. The decision of the bench prohibits the arrest of anyone merely because of a complaint that they had committed an atrocity against a Dalit or a tribal person. The court has in fact taken care of the issue that an accused should not be granted bail in such disputes as he may tamper with evidences and influence the witnesses. The least said the better about the role of the Senior Superintendent of Police in the district for approving the arrest. In cases of Bathani Tola (1996) and Laxmanpur Bathe (1997) massacre that took place in nineties, the trial court convicted the accused. However, in all cases the high court acquitted the accused. Appeals are pending in the Supreme Court. The cases were dismissed as the police developed cold feet and presented the wrong facts before the court.
There is little doubt and the courts would agree that atrocities against Dalits are a grim social reality, which requires a stringent law to combat it. Sadly enough, though the conviction rates under the Act remained low demands were made to impose fetters. P.S. Krishnan, former Secretary to Union ministry of welfare, and currently a member of the National Monitoring Committee for Education of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Persons with Disabilities, has expressed dismay at the Supreme Court’s judgment on March 20 diluting the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) (POA) Act 1989 and the POA Amendment Act, 2015 and asked the Centre to seek expunging of the observations of the judges, which ironically suggest that the Act is perpetuating casteism.
It is common knowledge that rightist ideology is against the poor, women, minorities and Dalits. The withdrawal of criminal cases in the Muzaffarnagar riots and the UGC directive to implement reservation taking the department as unit and delay in payment of SC/ST scholarships are the latest examples of this. But in case of SC/STs, the rightist ideology is more interested in protecting the accused.
The court has not only gone against its own earlier judgments but also re-written Section 18 of PoA which excluded anticipatory bail, and Section 154 of Code of Criminal Procedure, which mandates that FIR is to be registered in every case of cognizable offence. This order has virtually united all the political leaders and parties. This is a welcome move and the government will neglect it at its own peril. (IPA Service)
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