NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutional validity of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018 that ruled out any provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC/STs.
This means the Preliminary inquiry is not compulsory when a complaint was made under the atrocity law. Moreover, no prior approval of appointing authority or senior police officials is required before registration of FIRs.
Delivering the verdict, a bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Ravindra Bhatt directed that provisions related to anticipatory bail are to be exercised sparingly and in exceptional cases where no prima facie case is made out.
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Justice S Ravindra Bhat penned down a separate order concurring with Justice Arun Mishra and added a caveat that pre-arrest bail should be granted only in extraordinary situations where a denial of bail would mean miscarriage of justice.
In its September 30 verdict, the Supreme Court's three-judge bench had recalled its March 20, 2018 order that had diluted the stringent provisions of the SC/ST Act while restoring automatic arrest in such cases.
In the March 20, 2018 verdict, the two-judge Supreme Court bench had held that there will be no automatic arrest on a complaint filed under the Act and had also introduced anticipatory bail provision under the Act.
After the apex court's verdict, violent protests erupted across the country in which several persons lost their lives and many were injured.
Parliament on August 9 last year had passed the bill to overturn the apex court March 20, 2018 judgement concerning certain safeguards against arrest under the SC/ST law.
The Centre had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court asking to review its order.