SC/ST Act original petitioner says FIR translation wrong; files recall petition

In an interesting turn of events, Bhaskar Gaikwad, on whose FIR the case against the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act was heard in the Supreme Court, stated that he would be filing a review petition against the Supreme Court ruling because his original FIR in Marathi was not translated accurately due to which the Supreme Court pronounced a wrong ruling. The Supreme Court will hear the matter again on May 3.

Bhaskar Gaikwad said he was extremely unhappy that a huge controversy has been created on the basis of his simple FIR. According to him, three paragraphs of his FIR were not even translated and many words were changed in the translation. As a result, the meaning of the FIR had changed.

Bhaskar Gaikwad, who works as a store manager in an engineering college in Pune, emphasised that when the State Director of Technical Education, Maharashtra, Subhash Mahajan, forwarded his FIR to the Supreme Court, he had added one more sentence, which gave an impression that Dalits were misusing the SC/ST POA Act in the FIR and it had created confusion.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising has filed a recall petition the Supreme Court’s ruling on behalf of Bhaskar Gaikwad on Tuesday. The Supreme Court will be hearing this petition too along with rest of the petitions on this matter on May 3.

After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling diluting the SC/ST Act, Dalits have been protesting around the country. They had also organised the Bharat Bandh on April 2.

The Dalit and Adivasi organisations celebrated the Labour Day as Resistance Day in about 60 small and big cities in the country, including Delhi. During a meeting organised by the National Dalit Movement for Justice at Parliament Street in New Delhi, speakers pointed to the fact that almost half of the labour class belonged to Dalit and Adivasi communities.

Hence on May 1, generally regarded as Labour Day, all the workers would register their resistance against the injustice by the Supreme Court. Parliamentarian D Raja, Tariq Anwar, former MP Pradeep Tamta and T Thirumavalavan, former MLA Ravi Kumar and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat addressed this gathering. The petitioner Gaikwad had said at the meeting that he had filed a recall petition against the Supreme Court ruling on SC/ST PoA.

The coordinator of Dalit Movement for Justice, Abirami Jotheeswaran told National Herald that the Supreme Court’s decision was erroneous and there was resentment against the verdict among the Dalits and Adivasis.

Watch: Abirami J speak on SC ruling on SC/ST Act