SC/ST act: Now, a 'blood letter' to Modi demanding withdrawal of review petition

Two days after a Dalit group wrote a letter with blood to PM Narendra Modi urging him to restore the original Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, members of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha today (April 7) wrote a bloodletter demanding the withdrawal of review petition.

The BJP-led Central government had last month filed a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking restoration of the provisions of the SC/ST Act. The apex court's March 20 order on the SC/ST act is being seen by some as a dilution of the act. Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha members have also reportedly threatened to go on a protest by going bald at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan if the review petition is not withdrawn. On Thursday (April 5), Dalit group, Bhartiya Dalit Panthers Party had written a letter with blood to Prime Minister Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, appealing to them to restore the original Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The letter written by the members of the Bhartiya Dalit Panthers Party said that Parliament should bring in an ordinance and restore the original act.

The Supreme Court had on 20 March said that on "several occasions", innocent citizens were being named as accused and public servants deterred from performing their duties, which was never the intention of the legislature while enacting the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court had said that unless the exclusion of anticipatory bail is limited to "genuine cases and inapplicable to cases where there is no prima facie case was made out, there will be no protection available to innocent citizens". The government, in its review petition, told the Supreme Court that its 20 March verdict will violate Article 21 of the Constitution for the SC/ST communities and sought restoration of the provisions of the SC/ST Act.