-The Indian Express Of 700-odd districts, merely 194 have the recommended exclusive courts for SC/ST Act cases. The Sunday Express travels to two such courts — one in Ahmedabad, set up after Una, and the other in Banda, a district with a high number of cases — to find a familiar story Over 1.44 lakh cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes and 23,408 cases of atrocities against Scheduled Tribes came for trial...

-The Hindu The court says it has only protected innocents from falling prey to arbitrary arrests under the Act. The Supreme Court said its March 20 judgment, banning immediate arrest of a person accused of insulting or injuring a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe member, is meant to protect innocents from arbitrary arrest and not an affront to Dalit rights. The government, despite an urgent and open court hearing of its review petition, failed to...

-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...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday refused to further extend the March 31 deadline for linking of Aadhaar with government schemes and benefits. This comes days after the SC ordered an indefinite extension to the March 31 deadline for mandatory linking of the biometric identifier with bank accounts and mobile phones. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said: "We will not pass any...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court directs that public servants can only be arrested with the written permission of their appointing authority. The anti-atrocities law, which protects Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from casteist slurs and discrimination, has become an instrument to “blackmail” innocent citizens and public servants, the Supreme Court observed in a judgment on Tuesday. Issuing a slew of guidelines to protect public servants and private employees from arbitrary arrests under the...