Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 1955- Protection of Civil Rights Act to protect the fundamental and socio-economic, political, and cultural rights Features Special Courts for the trial and for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims Central Government to frame rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act. lists 22 offences relating to various patterns of behaviours inflicting criminal offences for shattering the self-respect and esteem of SCs and STs, denial of economic, democratic and social rights, discrimination, exploitation and abuse of the legal process, etc implemented by the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations amended in 2016 to add new offences to atrocities such as garlanding with footwears etc., & a chapter on the ‘Rights of Victims and Witnesses ’, defining ‘willful negligence’ of public servants clearly Supreme Court in March 2018 diluted the Act in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs State of Maharas...