CHENNAI: Amid allegations of abuse of the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act, a PIL filed in the Madras HC now says the law, which was made further stringent through an ordinance by the UPA government at the Centre days ahead of the general elections, is discriminatory as it treated all non-dalits as a separate class.

Pointing out that a majority of cases registered under the Act end in acquittal, indicating its abuse, the PIL filed by Advocates Forum for Social Justice president K Balu said the amended version of the legislation said onus of disproving the accusation of atrocity on dalits was on non-dalits facing the charge.

Referring to the harassment allegations levelled by a judge of the Madras high court against some of his companion judges, the petition said, "The need for judicial review is indispensable due to the havoc it creates in the public administration, from class IV employees to high court judges."

The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sundresh issued notice to state and central governments, and asked them to file their responses in three weeks.

Seeking to distinguish the term untouchability as mentioned in the Constitution from 'atrocity' as defined in the Act, Balu said the latter had gone beyond the constitutional mandate. Article 17 of the Constitution, in fact, does not confine the issue untouchability to SC/STs alone, he said, adding, "It addresses untouchability against all classes in general, without restricting it to any particular class. It is not addressed in favour of SC/STs as a separate class." Article 17 intends to punish "whoever commits an act of untouchability against any person", and there is no special reference to SC/STs, he said. The ordinance promulgated by the UPA government, however, opens with the sentence, "whoever not being member of the SC/ST," restricting untouchability to a particular community. "The Constitution never conceived and expressed the term atrocity on a par with untouchability," Balu said.

The PIL wanted the court to declare the provisions of the Act as unlawful, and as an interim measure restrain the authorities from registering any complaint under any of the provisions of the Act.

