Ram Vilas Paswan, other Dalit leaders congratulate PM Narendra Modi on SC/ST bill

Dalit leaders of the NDA led by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the passage of a bill in Parliament to amend the atrocities act. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment bill which overturns Supreme Court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe law, was passed by the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote, yesterday. Paswan, accompanied by other Union ministers Thawarchand Gehlot, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Vijay Sampla and others, met Modi and congratulated and felicitated him for the passage of this bill, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) said in a statement. The bill, which had got the nod of the Lok Sabha on August 6, rules out any provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC\/STs, notwithstanding any court order. It provides that no preliminary inquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.