The Supreme Court upheld a 2018 amendment which barred persons accused of committing atrocities against those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes from getting anticipatory bail. The Bench, Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran, held in their joint opinion that a High Court would also have an “inherent power” to grant anticipatory bail in cases in which prima facie an offence under the anti-atrocities law is not made out. Strengthening the law The SC, in Dr.Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs State of Maharashtra, held on March 20, 2018: No absolute bar against grant of anticipatory bail under the anti-atrocities law if no prima facie case is made out or if judicial scrutiny reveals the complaint to be prima facie mala fide. Parliament introduces an amendment in 2018. Inserts Section 18A in the original scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of ATricities) Act of 1989. Section 18A re-affirms the original legislative intention that Section 438 CrPC (pre-arrest bail) is not applicable to accused booked under the atrocities law. February 10, 2020 Judgement in Prathvi Raj Chouhancase: Justidces Arum Mishra and Vineet Saran uphold Section 18A. However, the judges add that the High Courts will have an “inherent power’ to grant anticipatory bail in cases in which prima facie an offence under the 1989 law is not made out.
