On Wednesday, former Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai acknowledged that while there have been instances of misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, such cases are uncommon. He emphasized that these rare occurrences should not serve as a justification for abolishing the law. Gavai further stated that it is within Parliament’s authority to amend the legislation to impose stricter penalties on those who file false complaints.
“I don’t think that the Act has been so misused that every professor in a particular institution should be scared of going to those colleges. Fortunately, such incidents of misuse are not that common. Gavai rejected the suggestion that the court should step in. “The Supreme Court’s powers under judicial review are very limited. We are not supposed to enact the laws. “Only when such an Act has been found to be ultra vires the Constitution, the court can strike down such a law.
Many of the relatives of the husband are roped in by the wife,” Gavai said, referring to the provision that’s now Sections 85 and 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“By way of an amendment, if the Parliament comes with a stringent penal action against persons who are misusing the law, (that) would be a better way,” he said. Asked about faculty members at IIT Bombay who have said they are afraid to take classes, Gavai said such fears were overstated. We have seen it in very, very rare cases,” he said. Asked more generally whether the law is misused in some cases, he drew on his career as a lawyer and a judge, and said, “But this happens in even the (Section) 498A (of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, about dowry harassment). “Similarly, in the Domestic Violence Act also, we find that many, many false allegations without any basis are made,” he added. Enacting the law is the domain of the Parliament, the legislature,” he said. And the provisions of the SC/ST Act have been found to be valid by the judgments of this court,” he said. On whether arrest was mandatory once an FIR was registered under the Act, Gavai said, “No, no, if they find that these provisions have been misused only to harass them, the person can always knock the doors of the court, and the court is not powerless to give its protection.”
