SC/ST atrocities law

SC/ST atrocities law 

• The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 2018 amendment that barred persons accused of committing atrocities against those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes from getting anticipatory bail.
• But two of the judges on the Bench, Justices Arun Mishra, and Vineet Saran, held in their joint opinion that a High Court would also have an “inherent power” to grant anticipatory bail in cases in which prima facie an offense under the anti­atrocities law is not made out. 
• The two judges held that a High Court, in “exceptional cases”, could quash cases to prevent the misuse of the anti­atrocities law.
• The judge said the express provisions of the Constitution and statutes like the Act, meant to protect the oppressed classes, underline the social or collective resolve to ensure that “all humans are treated as humans, that their innate genius is allowed outlets through equal opportunities and each of them is fearless in the pursuit of her or his dreams”.
•  All three judges on the Bench have upheld the constitutionality of Section 18A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2018. The sole purpose of Section 18A was to nullify a controversial March 20, 2018, the judgment of the Supreme Court diluting the stringent anti­bail provisions of the original Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
• A two ­judge Bench of the Supreme Court had on March 20, 2018, held that there was no “absolute bar” on accused person obtaining anticipatory bail under Section 438 CrPC, “if no prima facie is made out or if judicial scrutiny reveals the complaint to be prima facie malafide”.  The March 20, 2018 judgment was a response to the court’s belief that the law was abused to file false complaints.
• The verdict had led to widespread violence. Consequently, Parliament amended the 1989 law and inserted Section 18A into it. Section 18A re­affirmed the original legislative bar on pre­arrest bail.
• Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court to declare Section 18A “arbitrary and unconstitutional”. All of them were dismissed by the Bench on Monday as without merit.

Source: The Hindu