Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018[1]

[Act 27 of 2018]????? [17th August, 2018]

An Act further to amend the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:?

Section 1. Short title and commencement.

(1)     This Act may be called the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018.

(2)     It shall come into force on such date[2] as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

Section 2. Insertion of new Section 18-A.

After Section 18 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (33 of 1989), the following section shall be inserted, namely:?

?18A. No enquiry or approval required. (1) For the purposes of this Act,?

(a)      preliminary enquiry shall not be required for registration of a First Information Report against any person; or

(b)      the investigating officer shall not require approval for the arrest, if necessary, of any person, against whom an accusation of having committed an offence under this Act has been made and no procedure other than that provided under this Act or the Code shall apply.

(2) The provisions of Section 438 of the Code shall not apply to a case under this Act, notwithstanding any judgment or order or direction of any Court.?.