SC/ST Act hearing: Supreme Court says 'not against Act, innocent should not be punished'

The Supreme Court, while hearing the submissions in case of dilution of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) (SC/ST) Act by the Attorney-General, observed “we are not against the Act. The innocent should not be punished”,  ANI said. The apex court also refused to stay its order on the SC/ST Act, asking all parties to submit detailed replies within two days. The matter will be heard after 10 days. The news comes a day after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Monday  declined to hear an urgent plea on the ruling of the SC/ST Act. The hearing was held at 2 pm on Tuesday.

#BREAKING -- SC to hear the SC/ST case again after ten days, says there should be no politics in the case. pic.twitter.com/L49TNjPz0p

— News18 (@CNNnews18) April 3, 2018

Meanwhile, the SC/ST National Commission chairman RS Katheria said,“There has been violence and people have died. Those responsible are people who’ve been rejected by Dalits, whether it is Congress or BSP. We will do an inquiry and give a report to the government. Action will be taken against culprits,”  ANI quoted. [caption id=“attachment_4393271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Supreme Court of India. Reuters[/caption] According to CNN-News 18, the apex court had said earlier that it knows how to protect Constitutional Rights of the people and also asked why the government wants people to be arrested without verification? Attorney-General KK Venugopal is reported to have requested that the hearing be held on Tuesday itself. The apex court agreed to hear the review petition after Venugopal referred to large-scale violence and loss of lives and property during Monday’s Bharat Bandh. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to constitute the bench of Justice AK Goel and Justice UU Lalit to hear the review plea. The Centre  on Monday had moved the Supreme Court  to seek the recall of its judgment that ruled that there would be no automatic arrest of an accused following a complaint moved under the SC/ST Act. On 20 March, the apex court had said that on “several occasions”, innocent people were being named as accused and public servants deterred from performing their duties, which was never the intention of the legislature. Follow LIVE here.