The Supreme Court on Thursday said that a preliminary inquiry was not absolutely necessary for every complaint filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, The Hindu reported.
“In certain cases there may be something while in other cases there may be absolutely nothing,” the court said. “There may be cases which the police officers themselves feel are absurd. Such cases may be inquired into, not all cases. We said the police ‘may’ conduct a preliminary enquiry and never said it is a ‘must’.”
However, the bench of judges AK Goel and UU Lalit declined to issue an interim stay on its earlier verdict prohibiting arrest of a public servant without inquiry under the Act. It will continue to hear on May 16 the Centre’s plea seeking a review of the judgement, ANI reported.
On March 20, the Supreme Court said that a public servant accused under the law cannot be taken into custody until an officer, not below the rank of deputy superintendent, conducts a preliminary inquiry. The order sparked outrage across the country, and 11 people died and hundreds were detained in violence during protests against it on April 2. The Centre then filed the review petition, and said the judgement had created anger and disharmony.
The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that its order was “wrong” and asked for a larger bench to review, The Indian Express reported.
In April, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the government would argue the matter with full authority in the top court and appeal for reconsideration. “On behalf of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, every comprehensive review has been filed and the government, with due respect, does not agree with the reasoning given by the top court,” Prasad said.
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