Unheard, Misused and Misinterpreted

The death toll due to the violence as a result of the protest against the Supreme Court order of March 20 to amend The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989, also known as PoA Act is still rising. The apex court is not ready to put a stay on its earlier order, and so tensions will only mount in the next few days. The chances of hidden hands politicising the issue also cannot be ruled out. For the ruling NDA its rivals and also the minorities will only blame them since the NDA is currently running the government. Unfortunately in India, the understanding of the law by the people is largely dependent on the leaders and so at times the wrong fire is also stoked. Conversely, the poor understanding of law and the utter disregard for the ideals of justice in the country leads governments to adopt laws such as the PoA Act in India. The PoA Act was enacted in 1989 with direct reference to Article 17 of the Constitution of India that abolishes Untouchability making it an offence that is punishable. The PoA Act prescribes punishment against various atrocities committed on SC/STs by someone who is not a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe. A detailed read of the Act is an indicator of how the members of the SC and ST communities were subjected to by the general class in many parts of India. Humiliation, torture, forced inhumane acts, insult or injury, squatting on land belonging to SC/ST, intimidation during elections, false suits, false or frivolous information, sexual exploitation, restriction to public places, forced eviction, false evidence against SCs/STs, arson, use of explosives etc., are some of the atrocities that the Act has covered. The Act also created new types of offences not in the Indian Penal Code(IPC) or in the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 (PCRA). The Act also enhanced minimum punishment for public servants who violates the Act and also neglect of duties by a public servant causing atrocities as listed in the Act. The Act also denied anticipatory bail to anyone who was charged under the provisions of the Act. It was again amended in 2015 to make it more stringent. The Act in fact acted as a big deterrent for crimes against SCs and STs. The Supreme Courts latest order of March 20 stopped automatic arrests and allowed anticipatory bails if the court hearing the matter finds prima facie no case or finds that the complaint could be mala fide in nature. It also stated that public servants cannot be prosecuted without the approval of the appointing authority and that a person can be arrested only after an inquiry. This has caused the uproar across the country that the Act has been diluted. The Supreme Court on the other hand has stated that it was only concerned that innocents should not be punished due to misuse of the Act. It also takes into account the right to life and liberty of a person as provided in Article 21 of the Constitution. The decision of the apex court is logical but the issue now has various shades added to it and is already politicised. It is the ignorance of law and the utter lack of rule of law in the hinterlands is in fact the real problem. Only stringent laws acts as deterrents but it also comes with the added risk of being misused over time. The government on April 3, stated that 47,000 cases of crime against SC/ST was registered in 2016!