SC/ST Act: Supreme Court refuses to stay ‘dilution’ order, next hearing after 10 days

The Supreme Court said it will consider in detail the Centre's review petition against its March 20 judgement on the SC/ST Act but declined to keep in abeyance the directions passed by it to deal with the issues of arrest and sanction under the special law. The apex court said people who are agitating may not have read the judgement properly and must have been misled by people with vested interests. "We have not diluted any provision of SC/ST Act but only safeguarded the interests of the innocents from being arrested," a bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit asserted. It was the same bench that had passed the March 20 judgement. During an hour-long hearing, the apex court said the provisions of the SC/ST Act cannot be used to terrorise the innocents. The apex court has listed the Centre's review petition after 10 days for detailed hearing and asked the Maharashtra government and others to file written submissions within two days.