NEW DELHI:  In the SC/ ST Protection Act case, Supreme Court, while hearing the submissions by the Attorney General K K Venugopal, observed, 'we are not against the Act. The innocent should not be punished.'

The hearing began in SC over SC/ST Act review petition. Supreme Court prima facie is not liable to review SC/ST Act ruling. "Those agitating on streets may not have even read our judgment. Vested interests are also involved sometimes. We are only concerned about innocent people being put behind bars. We are not against the Act at all. But innocents can't be punished on the unilateral version. Why does government want people to be arrested without verification," the apex court verdict reads.

While hearing the matter, the top court questioned the attorney general, "How will AG function if allegations are raised like this?"

Attorney General K K Venugopal mentioned the review petition before Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel for an open court hearing, following which the court agreed to hear the matter. "Failure to maintain law and order cannot be a ground to alter a judgment. Let CJI take a call on the constitution of the bench," it said.

The Supreme Court on March 20 in its verdict diluted the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and said that government servants should not be arrested without prior sanction and private citizens, too, be arrested only after an investigation under the law.

Opposing the ruling, a number of Dalit organisations had called for a 'Bharat bandh' yesterday in which several violent incidents and blockades of roads and rail tracks were reported from many states.