In a bid to placate protesting upper caste groups, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act (Prevention of Atrocities) would not be allowed in the state and no one will be arrested before an investigation.  “MP mein nahi hoga SC/ST Act the durupuyog, bina jaanch ke nahi hogi giraftari (misuse of SC/ST Act won’t be allowed in the state, no arrests will be made sans thorough probe),” Chouhan tweeted yesterday.
Notably, his remarks came on a day  when upper caste organisations held protests in different parts of the state against the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill 2018 which was passed by Parliament in August. Protesters took out a rally from Ganesh Mandir near Habibganj Railway Station, on their way to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence, but the police stopped them midway. As per a report protesters lay down on the roads and shouted slogans against the amendments. They also waved black flags outside BJP and Congress offices.