Rahul Gandhi Misleading Dalits on SC/ST Act, Says Chirag Paswan

New Delhi: Lok Jan Shakti Party leader and Lok Sabha member Chirag Paswan while speaking at Baithak, a News18 India event, in Delhi on Tuesday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi is misleading Dalits on the topic of SC/ST Act.

"Rahul Gandhi publicly said the Centre has nullified the SC/ST Act. That is completely wrong. He is trying to mislead Dalits," said Paswan.

The Union Cabinet has given its nod to an amendment bill to restore original provisions of Dalit atrocity law aimed at overturning the court verdict.

The amendment Bill seeks to insert Section 18A in the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to this new Section, there will not be any requirement to conduct a preliminary inquiry before an FIR is to be registered.

While the Supreme Court judgment provided for carrying out a preliminary inquiry, not exceeding seven days to satisfy a police officer of the ingredient of the complaint before registering a formal FIR, the proposed provision junks that distinction.

According to the Bill, any provision for conducting preliminary inquiry will delay the investigation and thus filing of the chargesheet.

The Supreme Court had also laid down that in cases of public servants, prior approval of the appointing authority shall be required to make arrest. For private individuals, a sanction from SSP was mandated by the Court.

But the new law seeks to do away with these directions of the Court, and says that "arrest, if necessary, of a person shall not require any approval".

The proposed Section also moves to invalidate another directive by the top court by which a provision for pre-arrest bail was sought to be introduced in the statute.

Congress leader Raj Babbar while speaking at the same event said, "Dalits are no more vote banks. They are very much a part of the majority population and will play an important role in development of the nation."

The former actor also said that BJP is anti-Dalit.

Countering his opinion, Sudhanshu Trivedi, said the Centre is all for minorities and respects all religion and caste.