The Narendra Modi government, which is facing criticism for its alleged failure in the Supreme Court to defend the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has said the Centre was not a party to the case which resulted in the apex court issuing guidelines that bar automatic arrest in cases registered under the law.
However, the court's order, dated March 20, clearly notes that it had issued notice to the Attorney General of India as the issue involved interpretation of a central statute.
The judgment passed by an SC bench, comprising Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit, in fact, puts it on record that Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh had submitted before it that in view of the court's decisions in earlier cases, there is no occasion to go into the issue of validity of provisions of the Atrocities Act. The ASG's submission amounted to defence of the statute.
The ASG also said, on behalf of the Centre, no guideline should be laid down by the Supreme Court which may be legislative in nature.
However, the Centre was in agreement with the view that the provision of anticipatory bail be made available even in cases lodged under the SC/ST Act. “He also submitted that decisions of this court in Vilas Pandurang Pawar & Anr. vs State of Maharashtra & Ors and Shakuntala Devi vs Baljinder Singh permit grant of anticipatory bail if no prima facie case is made out. Thus, in genuine cases, anticipatory bail can be granted,” the court said in its judgment.
At another point in the judgment, the court reiterated the Centre's stand on anticipatory bail as voiced by the ASG, saying, “In view of decisions in Vilas Pandurang Pawar (supra) and Shakuntla Devi (supra), learned ASG has rightly stated that there is no absolute bar to grant anticipatory bail if no prima facie case is made out inspite of validity of Section 18 of the Atrocities Act being upheld.”
The ASG submitted that certain complaints were received alleging misuse of the Atrocities Act and a question was also raised in Parliament as to what punishment should be given for filing false cases. He said the reply given was that awarding punishment to members of SCs and STs for false implication would be against the spirit of the Act.
Maninder Singh referred to the Central government's press statement dated March 19, 205, in which it said for false cases, relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code can be invoked.
The Modi government is being criticised by political opponents for not forcefully defending the SC/ST Act in court. The question asked is why the Attorney General did not present the Centre's view before the apex court.