The Rajya Sabha on Thursday unanimously passed the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, which seeks to overturn a Supreme Court order that struck down the provision for immediate arrest of the accused booked under the Act.

Since the Lok Sabha has already passed the bill, it is set to become a law following the President's assent. Replying to the discussion on the bill, Social Justice Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said that the Narendra Modi government was committed to the welfare of the Dalits and the weaker sections and stressed that it had not brought the bill "under any pressure".