New Delhi: Welcoming the Supreme Court order upholding the Constitutional validity of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate KTS Tulsi on Monday said that the Congress party has always been in line with the philosophy that reservation should be continued as these communities need "extra protection and incentives."
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Tulsi said, "I wholeheartedly welcome this judgment as its purpose was to bring the opressed classes on par with other categories, which is far from being realised, as they need extra protection and incentives."
Justice Ravinder Bhat, a member of the bench, said that every citizen needs to treat fellow citizens equally and foster the concept of fraternity. He also said that a court can quash the FIR if a prima facie case is not made out under the SC/ST act and the liberal use of anticipatory bail will defeat the intention of Parliament.
Read: Supreme Court upholds constitutional validity of SC/ST Act
The Supreme Court's verdict came on a batch of PILs challenging the validity of the SC/ST Amendment Act of 2018, which was brought to nullify the effect of the apex courts's 2018 ruling, which had diluted the provisions of the stringent Act.
"The communities are subjected to all kinds of atrocities and humiliations. That's why this law was made and it provided no grant of bail during the process of investigation, because otherwise these people will come under greater pressure and would never have been able to complain," he said.
"The Supreme Court has diluted that provision by saying that instead of an FIR, there should be a preliminary enquiry which exposed these people to great danger," he added.
Read: It's in DNA of BJP-RSS to erase reservations: Rahul Gandhi
Earlier today, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP and RSS by saying that their ideology is against reservation and they never want SC/STs to progress. He said his own party will always be in support of Dalits, SCs, STs and OBC people. Supporting his statement, Tulsi said that the Congress party has always been in line to the philosophy that reservations should be continued.
'Protesters themselves inconvenienced'
As the Supreme Court on Monday said that the protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh cannot block public roads for an indefinite period while creating inconvenience for others, Tulsi objected to the top court's observation, saying that it is the protesters who are under inconvenience as no representative of the Government of India is ready to address them.
"The protests are caused on account of worry as in the minds of these people government is doing nothing to address their concerns. More than inconvenience for others, they are inconveniencing themselves - elderly women, small children, men are sitting on roads in biting cold," he added.
Read: SC says Shaheen Bagh protesters can't block public roads
