SC bins challenge to SC/ST Act provisions

The Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation challenge to the constitutional validity of key provisions in the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 on Tuesday. Chief Justice Surya Kant's bench stated that existing safeguards in earlier judgments were sufficient to prevent misuse of the Act's stringent arrest provisions.

A three-judge bench that ruled on the Prathviraj Chauhan case in 2020 had already established these safeguards, leading the current bench to decline entertaining the petition. The case challenged sections 18 and 18A of the Act, which deny anticipatory bail and require no prior enquiry by the police before registering an FIR. The petitioners argued that the stringent provisions allowing police to register a case on a complaint without a preliminary inquiry, along with Section 18A which bars anticipatory bail, were being misused.

However, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition, stating that instances of misuse could be addressed separately by the courts without questioning the Act's constitutional validity. The court also cited the Supreme Court's previous rulings, including those in the Shajan Skaria case and the August 2024 judgment, which outline the conditions under which anticipatory bail is denied.

The petitioners, comprising 19 people, argued that the Act's provisions are arbitrary, draconian, and disproportionate, creating a caste-based criminal justice system and leading to misuse and erosion of the rule of law. They cited a rise in cases registered under the Act from nearly 46,000 in 2020 to over 53,000 in 2023, with only a small percentage resulting in convictions.