New Delhi
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory to all states to take necessary precautionary measures in the view of Bandh called for Tuesday. A week after Dalit groups across the country held a nationwide protest against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court, which witnessed massive violence in different parts of the country leading to the death of nine people, a Bharat Bandh against caste-based reservation in education and jobs has been called today.
\According to security sources, calls for an anti-quota bandh started circulating on social media after Dalit protests last week. Separate security alerts have also been issued in a number of states, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, from where the deaths were reported on April 2. “No group has come forward to say they are organising a call for a bandh. These messages are doing the rounds in social media,” said Jaipur police chief Sanjay Agarwal. “We are holding meetings with community liaison groups and traders. Nobody will be allowed to take the law into their hands,” he added.
On March 20, the top court diluted the provisions of the SC/ST Act, stating that government servants should not be arrested without prior sanction and private citizens, too, should be arrested only after an inquiry under the law.
