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HomeIndiaGovernanceBJP MP questions Modi govt's ‘inaction’ on ‘dilution’ of SC/ST Act

BJP MP questions Modi govt’s ‘inaction’ on ‘dilution’ of SC/ST Act

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Savitri Bai Phule will hold a rally in Lucknow on 1 April; she says it is her duty to fight for the people who have elected her.

New Delhi: BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule will hold a rally in Lucknow on 1 April against the “dilution” of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court. She has also questioned the Centre’s “inaction” on the issue.

“They are playing with the rights of the backward classes that have been guaranteed by the Indian Constitution,” Phule, who represents UP’s Bahraich in the Lok Sabha, said, referring to the Supreme Court.

“As a parliamentarian who has been elected by these people, it my duty to fight for them. This why I’m organising the ‘Bharatiya Samvidhaan Aarakshan Bachao’ (Save Indian constitutional reservation) campaign,” she added.

The SC’s 20 March judgment ending immediate arrests of suspects under the Act has evoked much criticism, with the opposition alleging the BJP had not argued the case well in order to please “its upper caste Hindu voters”.

NDA partner Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Jan Shakti Party, also a Union minister, has in his personal capacity sought the reconsideration of the order by the Supreme Court.

On Sunday, PTI reported that the Parliament’s standing committee on social justice was expected to recommend that the government file a review petition in the case. Senior BJP leaders, including Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Arun Jaitley, have apparently discussed the issue. The final call is likely to be taken by Jaitley, the report said.

“Our Constitution is sacred. If all its annexures had been implemented properly, poverty and joblessness would not exist in India. The government must take a stand,” Phule told ThePrint.

“We will fight for our rights. You can’t say that reservation is assured one day and the next day work towards eliminating it completely. That is unfair to the oppressed sections of our society,” she added.

The order

Barring immediate arrests in cases filed under the SC/ST Act, a two-judge bench comprising Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice A.K. Goel said on 20 March, “Innocent citizens are termed accused, which is not intended by the legislature. The legislature never intended to use the atrocities Act as an instrument to blackmail or to wreak personal vengeance.”

The court flagged the “rampant misuse” of the Act, and ordered that a seven-day inquiry be conducted before a case is filed or arrest made.

The same two-judge bench had, in July last year, done away with the provision for immediate arrests in cases filed under the anti-dowry law — Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. It had again cited the law’s “misuse by disgruntled wives”.

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