Former Union Congress Minister and Rajya Sabha member Kumari Selja alleged here on Saturday that laxity on the part of the Union government in producing all the facts before the Supreme Court has resulted in the dilution of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
In its March 20 order, the apex court had stopped automatic arrests under the Act and said that public servants can’t be prosecuted without the approval of the appointing authority; and private citizens too should be arrested only after an inquiry under the law. The court on April 3 rejected the Union government’s plea to stay its earlier verdict.
Talking to reporters, Ms. Selja accused the Union government of deliberately not defending the case in a proper way before the apex court. She said the Attorney General failed to appear before the court following the notice on November 24, 2017. The Centre failed to place all the facts concerning atrocities on SCs and STs before the apex court. “This led to an adverse order of the apex court,” she said. The Centre failed a review petition following public outrage, she said.