SC/ST Act: SC says people who are agitating have not read the order, refuses to stay its order
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay its ruling, which activists say has diluted a law aimed at preventing atrocities on Dalits and tribes, as it asserted that it wanted to protect innocent people from being punished.
A bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, however, said compensation can be paid to victims alleged atrocities under The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, even without a FIR being registered.
Refusing to budge on its five directions issued on March 20, the court said: "We are not against the law or its implementation" and the directions in no way diluted the law but were aimed to protect the innocent people from being punished. It describe its direction for preliminary inquiry before an FIR is registered on a complaint as "filter".
"People who are agitating have not read the order. There is a lot of hearsay," observed Justice Goel.
"We are only concerned about innocent people being put behind bars. We are not against the Act at all. But innocents can't be punished on unilateral version. Why does government want people to be arrested without verification.?"
As Venugopal argued why SC/ST people will implicate anyone, the bench said: "Our approach is to protect innocent people. If there is an unverifiable allegation against an official, how will he function, how AG will function."
There is abuse of law not just by the SC/ST members, but by police, someone else or by some vested interest or purpose, said amicus curiae Amarendra Sharan.
Wondering at the arguments of the Central government for seeking review of March 20 judgment, he said that judgment was founded on the statistics of misuse and abuse of law furnished by the government during the course of the hearing.
He said that the March 20 directions in no way diluted, took away or struck down the provisions of SC/ST act and the sole motivating factor is protection of innocent.
Describing Article 14 (Equality before law) and Article 21 as core of the Constitution, Sharan said that "protection of a person under Article 21 is paramount".
Having clarified that non-registration of FIR would not come in the way of grant of compensation and its direction of PE in no way comes in the way of registering cases under penal offences and other statues, the court gave two days to different parties to the case to file written submissions and three days to file rejoinders as it directed the next hearing after two weeks.
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Air Chief Marshal AP Singh meets PM Modi
New Delhi, May 4 (PTI): Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh on Sunday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is understood to have discussed the security situation arising out of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over the deadly Pahalgam terror attack.
The meeting came less than 24 hours after Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.
The Air chief held a meeting with PM Modi, sources said without giving further details. There is no official word on the Modi-Singh meeting yet.
Citing "cross-border linkages" to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, India has promised severe punishment to those involved in the strike.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass, Prime Minister Modi on last Tuesday gave the armed forces "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of the response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Modi also emphasised the national resolve to deal a "crushing blow to terrorism".
A day after the attack, India announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties.
In response, Pakistan shut its airspace to Indian airliners and suspended all trade with India, including through third countries.
In fresh punitive measures, India imposed a complete ban on imports of all goods from Pakistan with immediate effect on the grounds of national security and public policy.
New Delhi also suspended all postal services from Pakistan and banned entry of Pakistani-flagged ships at Indian ports.
