Punjab assembly passes resolution to file review plea against SC order, saying it will lead to an increase in atrocities against Dalits.
Chandigarh/New Delhi: Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan has moved the Supreme Court in his personal capacity seeking a reconsideration of the recent SC verdict on “preventing misuse” of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, a move that could embarrass the BJP-led NDA government.
The move came just days after Paswan asked the government to file a review petition against the ruling, which legal experts claim, diluted the legislation meant to prevent SC/ST atrocities.
Several other political parties have also taken up the issue even as the Centre is yet to act.
Meanwhile, the Punjab assembly Monday passed a unanimous resolution to exhort the NDA government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the controversial verdict.
Dalit MLAs across party lines agreed that the 20 March judgment had led to the ‘dilution’ of the law and would mean an increase in atrocities against SCs. The issue was raised by Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku in the zero hour of the ongoing budget session Monday.
The move was supported by several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Akali MLAs which was later announced to have been passed as a unanimous resolution by the Speaker.
The Punjab assembly’s move is expected to bolster efforts in Parliament to push the NDA government to move a review petition. PTI reported Sunday that Parliament’s standing committee on social justice is expected to recommend to the government that it file a review petition.
The report added that union minister for social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot met BJP chief Amit Shah, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and finance minister Arun Jaitley to discuss the issue and Jaitley has been tasked with taking a final decision.
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) have also conveyed their views and demanded a review of the verdict.
The union minister of state for social justice Ramdas Athawale Friday said his Republican Party of India (A) – a BJP ally – would file a review petition in the Supreme Court on its own to challenge the judgment.
On 20 March, a bench of justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit had held: “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.”
The Judgement of the Apex Court is deeply flawed. Are the judges blind to the Atrocities on the SCs/STs? What is the data on which the judges relying upon to pass a Judgement that a innocent officer is not punished. It seems the Apex Court is naive to the situation, where in those who perpetrate atrocities are never convicted. So the “motive” of the Apex Court is “suspect”!
The apex court judgment is sound, based on a judicious review of how the Act has worked in practice. The review petition is more in the nature of going through the motions of doing something for public consumption …