Legislature Proposes,Judiciary Disposes: Supreme Court’s Ruling on the Atrocities Act

Abstract

The increasing ferocity and frequency of violence against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) led to the enactment of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The law now forbade the practice of untouchability thus protecting marginalised communities against all forms of social injustice and exploitation. However, the ensuing years revealed many deficiencies in the Act and its enforcement leading to a demand to strengthen it. Subsequently, the SCs and STs Amendment Ordinance was issued in March 2014, followed by the enactment of the SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 that came into force in January 2016. However, barely two years later, the Supreme Court, proceeding on the assumption that there was rampant abuse of the law by SCs/STs struck a crippling blow to the legislation. In oder to protect public servants from being falsely implicated in cases under the Act, the Supreme Court, in a recent ruling (Dr Subhash K. Mahajan vs. State of Maharashtra) introduced procedural safeguards of such a fundamental nature that the law has been virtually rewritten and will profoundly impact the dalit’s fight for social equality and justice.