SC To Look Into Procedural Safeguards Against Abuse Of SC/ST Act [Read Order]

Whether any unilateral allegation of mala fide can be ground to prosecute officers who dealt with the matter in official capacity and if such allegation is falsely made what is protection available against such abuse, the bench observed.The Supreme Court will look into the question whether there can be procedural safeguards so that provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled. Whether any unilateral allegation of mala fide can be ground to prosecute officers who dealt with the matter in official capacity and if such allegation is falsely made what is protection available against such abuse, the bench observed. The Supreme Court will look into the question whether there can be procedural safeguards so that provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Act 1989 are not abused for extraneous considerations. The bench of Justice AK Goel and Justice UU Lalit said the question raised in the appeal is this: “Whether any unilateral allegation of mala fide can be ground to prosecute officers who dealt with the matter in official capacity and if such allegation is falsely made what is protection available against such abuse.” The court further observed: “If the allegation is to be acted upon, the proceedings can result in arrest or prosecution of the person and have serious consequences on his right to liberty even on a false complaint which may not be intended by law meant for protection of a bona fide victim.” The court also observed that it has to examine whether the above said procedure will be just and fair procedure under Article 21 of the Constitution of India or there can be procedural safeguards so that provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Act 1989 are not abused for extraneous considerations.