The Centre urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to recall its March 20 judgment that "diluted" the SC and ST Act and resulted in "great damage to the country through commotion, anger, unease and a sense of disharmony."
The Centre said that separation of powers was part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and there was no room for the court to declare that it could legislate. Attorney General KK Venugopal informed the court that the judgment was against the provisions of the Act that protected the aggrieved community.
"The judgment has diluted the provisions of the Act, resulting in great damage to the country... The court has dealt with an issue of a very sensitive nature that has caused commotion, anger, unease and a sense of disharmony in the country," the government's top law officer said in his written submission.
The government move follows violent protests by Dalit groups across northern states on April 2 that left 11 people dead and hundreds others injured. The protests had been organised against the order that banned automatic arrests under the Act, and held that a court can grant anticipatory bail in case of false complaints.
It has been alleged that the "dilution" in the Act would spike violence against Dalits. The government moved the court on the day of clashes for the order's review — a move termed too late by the Opposition. The next day, the court refused to freeze its decision and said its intention was to protect individual rights.
A Bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit that had pronounced the contentious order then said that it was not concerned with the violence that had paralysed the nation because it had not diluted the Act.
"Those protesting on the streets may not have even read our judgment. They are being misled by some vested interests... so that does not concern us," the Bench had said in support of its order.
The Bench had added that it had not touched upon the law in the Act, but merely added safeguards from arrests to protect innocent victims. "No relief can be given to the SC/ST community without protecting the fundamental rights of an innocent person," Justice Goel had said.
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The government move follows violent protests by Dalit groups across northern states on April 2 that left 11 people dead and hundreds others injured. The protests had been organised against the order that banned automatic arrests under the Act, and held that a court can grant anticipatory bail in case of false complaints.
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