On 24 January, the Supreme Court refused to stay the proposed amendments to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which restored the no anticipatory bail provision for the accused.
A bench headed by Justice A K Sikri said that the pending review petition filed by the Centre against the apex court's March 20, 2018 verdict and the pleas challenging the new amendments made in the SC/ST verdict will be taken up together.
The bench referred the matter to the Chief Justice for reconstitution of a bench which Justice U U Lalit was a part of.
Justice Lalit was a part of a bench which had passed the March 20, 2018 verdict. He took note of the rampant misuse of the stringent SC/ST Act against the government servants and held that there shall be no immediate arrest on any complaint filed under the law.