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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SC/ ST Act: Same Supreme Court bench gave misuse argument for dowry law -Shalini Nair

SC/ ST Act: Same Supreme Court bench gave misuse argument for dowry law -Shalini Nair

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published Published on Apr 3, 2018   modified Modified on Apr 3, 2018
-The Indian Express

The Supreme Court bench of U U Lalit and A K Goyal, which laid down stringent safeguards before registering a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Tuesday, took a similar line on the anti-dowry law last July.

IT’S A tale of two laws and the same two-judge bench. The Supreme Court bench of U U Lalit and A K Goyal, which laid down stringent safeguards before registering a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Tuesday, took a similar line on the anti-dowry law last July.

In both cases, the court’s stated intention was to prevent misuse — both the rulings drew criticism for reading down of the provisions.

In both cases, the orders state that it has been “judicially acknowledged” that there has been “misuse”, by Dalits in case of the SC/ST Act and by women under IPC 498 A (cruelty against a married women by her husband or in-laws) in the Rajesh Sharma vs the State of UP case.

Less than three months after the judgment in the IPC 498 A case, another Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra decided to revisit the ruling on the ground that “we are not in agreement with the judgment”.

“While deciding to revisit the 498A order, the Chief Justice of India clearly said ‘We can’t write law, we can only interpret the law’. The courts can interpret a law that is ambiguous or silent on certain aspects but not when it is crystal clear,” said Professor Nitish Nawsagaray from ILS Law College in Pune.

Nawsagaray, who is also part of the Dalit Adivasi Adhikar Andolan, said that both the SC/ST Act and IPC 498 A orders qualify as attempts at rewriting criminal law through court directives. In Tuesday’s order, the court ruled that it can issue directives so as “to enforce the fundamental rights of life and liberty against any executive or legislative action”.

Both judgments cite the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on low convictions and high acquittals to imply misuse.

P S Krishnan, former secretary, said, “Low rate of conviction or high rate of acquittals is not an evidence of cases being false. It often reflects the hostile attitude of those investigating the case. There is no Act in the world, which is not misused. A matchstick can be used to light fire to cook food or to burn down a house, does that mean we ban matchsticks?”

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The Indian Express, 22 March, 2018, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/sc-st-act-same-supreme-court-bench-gave-misuse-argument-for-dowry-law-5106454/


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