Shut courts if they can’t protect rights: SC/ST Act vedict judge

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, who headed a bench which delivered the judgment forbidding immediate arrest under SC/ST Act, on Friday said if courts can't protect the fundamental rights of citizens, they should be shut down.

"If courts can't protect fundamental rights of the innocent public, then let's wind up the courts," said Justice Goel, defending his judgment on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 which the activists and the Central government said diluted the stringent provisions.

Justice Goel, who had a four-year tenure in the apex court, was speaking at his farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association.

With his retirement, there are nine vacancies in the top court.

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