The constitutional commitment of
equality, liberty, justice and dignity to all Indian citizens is the expression
of our vision of building a nation without any discrimination including
deep-rooted discrimination based on caste. In the past 68 years of
independence, this commitment made in the Preamble has been translated into
action through various public policies to abolish discrimination. Yet caste
discrimination remains a widespread phenomenon throughout India. The cruelest
outcome of caste discrimination against Dalits and Adivasis is the physical
violence against them by socially advantaged caste groups in India. Recognizing
such crimes and vulnerability of Dalits and Adivasis, the government of India
enacted ‘The Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act’ in 1989 (PoA Act) to deter
such violence and ensure justice and protection to them. However, its
implementation remains very weak and the vulnerability of SCs and STs has
barely improved. Dalit rights
organizations and various other public institutions indicated towards
non-implementation of the law, in-effectiveness of law to deter commonly
committed caste base atrocities, lack of statutory arrangements in the states,
corruption in police system and influence of caste system in public
institutions. Considering all these loopholes in the Act, it has been demanded
by various stakeholders to amend this law in order to ensure higher protection
of victims and prevent caste-based atrocities. UPA-II government in the end of
its tenure brought an ordinance to amend the PoA Act in March 2014. The newly
formed NDA government introduced ‘The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014 in the Lok Sabha to replace the
ordinance.
The Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and
Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) together accounts around one fourth of Indian
population. Caste system deprives this entire section of population from
enjoying a life as it is articulated in the Preamble of the Indian
Constitution. Practices of the caste system such as untouchability and
discrimination many times lead to the gross physical atrocities. The literature
on atrocities shows that it is an all-India phenomenon legitimized by same
principle of caste hierarchy. Government of India enacted The Untouchability
(Offences) Act in 1955 to abolish practices of untouchability and protect
rights of individual. Even after this legislative mechanism, frequency of
atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis remain unchanged. Under the pressure
from Dalit Members of Parliament (MPs), the Government of India started
monitoring atrocities against SCs from 1974 and in the case of STs from 1981
onwards, with special focus on murder, rape, arson and grievous hurt.
The caste system is so deeply rooted in
Indian society that mere monitoring of atrocities and enacting a law to abolish
untouchability did not result into betterment of Adivasis and Dalits. The
socially and culturally legitimized caste system leads to the complex
manifestations such as discrimination, untouchability, atrocity on vulnerable
sections of the society. The enactment of PoA Act in 1989 as a special law
recognized complexity of caste base atrocities and higher vulnerability of
victims. This special law treats various IPC and other offences against STs and
SCs by any non ST and SC member in a different manner. It prescribes stronger
punishment and provides protection to the victims. The Act states that,
“despite various measures to improve the socio-economic conditions of SCs and
STs, they remain vulnerable. They are denied a number of civil rights; they are
subjected to various offences, indignities, humiliations and harassment. They
have, in several brutal incidents, been deprived of their life and property.
Serious atrocities are committed against them for various historical, social
and economic reasons .”
Implementation
of the Act
During two decades of its implementation
the PoA Act ensured justice, protection and rehabilitation for thousands of victims
of caste atrocities. . It also helped to generate awareness around basic human
rights. Dalits and Adivasis have utilized this law to assert their rights and
due share in society. However, various obstacles have been identified in its
smooth implementation and delivering justice to the victims. According to a
NHRC report on Status of Implementation of SCs and STs (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989, police resort to various machinations to discourage
SCs/STs from registering cases, to dilute the seriousness of the violence and
to shield the accused persons from arrest and prosecution. FIRs are often
registered under the Protection of Civil Right Act and IPC provision, which
attract lesser punishment than PoA Act provision for the same offence.
The National Coalition for Strengthening
SC & ST Prevention of Atrocity Act (a network of civil society organization
and Dalit activists) identified following major deficiencies of the Act and its
implementation :
·
Under
reporting of the cases under the Act and deterred from making complaints of
atrocities.
·
Deliberately
not registering cases under appropriate sections of the Act.
·
Delay
in filing charge sheet
·
Not
arresting accused and the ones who are arrested are invariably released on
bail.
·
Filing
false and counter cases against Dalit victims by accused.
·
Compensation
prescribed under the Act 16 is invariably not paid.
·
Victims
have no access to legal aid.
·
Non-implementation
of statutory provisions in various States under the Act and Rule, 1995.
According to the data of Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment, majority of states do not fulfill minimum
statutory provisions as per the Act, 1989 and Rules, 1995. Following table
shows the status of non-implementation of the provisions of SCs and STs (PoA) Act,
1989 and Rules 1995 by State Governments.
Although there is provision in the PoA
Act for the constitution of Special Courts to expeditiously try atrocity cases,
in reality what SCs/STs experience is a huge pendency of their cases before the
trial courts. Moreover, the conviction rate is very low. In fact, the
conviction rate under the PoA Act is found to be much lower than in cases
booked under IPC. According to the NCRB data, in 2013 the
average conviction rate for crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes stood at 23.8% and 16.4% respectively as compared to overall conviction
rate of 40.2% relating to IPC cases and 90.9% relating to SLL (Special and
Local Law) cases. The processing of reported cases for investigation and trail
is very slow. According to the NCRB
data, 35645 cases are pending in different courts for trial. Large numbers of
cases are pending in States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Gujarat and
Karnataka.
The National Advisory Council (NAC)
during UPA government reviewed the provisions of law and cases of atrocities
and found that certain forms of atrocities, though well documented, are not
covered by the Act. NAC recommended for the incorporation of various IPC
offences and other commonly committed offences under the perview of this law to
ensure wider protection to the victims of caste atrocities. The National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and Justice Punnaiah Commission
critically examined deficiencies of the Act and has suggested various
amendments to the Act. Human rights organizations have also highlighted various
gaps in the enforcement of the Act and Rules. Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment and Ministry of Home Affairs have issued various advisories to
State governments to fill the gaps in the enforcement.
Status
of Atrocities:
The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)
data further exposes the poor implementation of the Act and its minimal impact
in effectively dealing with caste based atrocities. The data reveals that the
number and frequency of crime against SCs and STs are continuously increasing.
The prevalent atrocities against SCs and STs includes incidents such as making
SCs eat human excreta, and subjecting both SCs and STs to physical assaults,
grievous hurt, arson, mass killings and rapes of SC/ST women, etc. Although the
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides useful data that reveal the
extent of atrocities committed against the SCs/STs, these data do not fully
reflect the ground reality as most of the cases go unreported due to reluctance
by police to register atrocity cases for various reasons. One also finds caste
bias and corruption among the police force preventing registration and
investigation of cases.
Even after low rate of reporting of
crime under PoA Act, incidences of crime under this Act has increased from
11602 incidences in 2008 to 13975 incidences in 2013. The incidences of rape
have shockingly increased from 1457 in 2008 to 2073 in 2013 (an increase of
42.27%). There has been no mitigation
with annual average of crimes registered against SCs/ST standing at 39408 and
daily average being 108.
Proposed
Amendments in PoA Act, 1989:
The literature and empirical data on
caste atrocities reveals that it made nominal impact in the lives of SCs and
STs. However, various assessment of the law reveals that it has created a sense
of security and protection among the victims of the caste atrocity. Dalit and
Adivasi victims have used it as a tool to assert their basic rights and combat
with wrong social and cultural practices. The current situation of atrocities and
status of cases pending in police station and in courts led stakeholder to
advocate for amendment in the PoA Act, 1989.
The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014 introduced in the Lok
Sabha on July 16, 2014 that replaces ordinance enacted by UPA government in
March 2014 represents the consensus of
stakeholders to amend the law for better results.
The amendment Bill proposes substantial
changes in the chapter on ‘Offences of Atrocities’ (Chapter-II) of the
Principal Act. The proposed amendments attempts to increase number of IPC
offences under the preview of this act. It also recognizes commonly practiced
action in society to insult and harm dignity of person from SC and ST community
as an offence. These offences are
garlanding with footwear, compelling to dispose or carry human or animal
carcasses, manual scavenging, attempting to promote feeling of ill-will against
SCs or STs, imposing or threatening a social or economic boycott. The
amendments in this chapter further specify duties of public servant in detail
and prescribe punishment in case of any neglect of duty by the public servant.
The common duties of public servant includes registration of FIR,
furnishing a copy of information recorded by the informant in police station,
to record statements of victims or witnesses, conduct investigation, file
charge sheet within six days and keep records of document.
Addressing issue of long pendency of
cases and low conviction rate under the Act, the amendment Bill proposes
constitution of Exclusive Special Court and Special Courts to dispose cases
within given time-frame. The provision in the bill ensures adequate number of
courts so that every case can be disposed within the period of two months from
the date of filling of the charge sheet.
The bill has inserted a new chapter namely ‘Chapter IVA’ in the principal Act, that describes the rights of
victims and witnesses in detail. Some of the crucial rights of victims and
witnesses are as follows:
· Right
of victims, their dependents and witnesses to access state’s support for their
protection against any kind of violence, threats, coercion, inducement and intimidation.
· Right
of victims to access special support from government, that arises because of
their age, gender, educational disadvantage and poverty.
· Right
of hearing views of victims at any proceeding under this Act in respect of
bail, discharge, release, parole, conviction or sentence of an accused.
· Right
of victims, their dependents, informants and witnesses to access facilities of
relocation, rehabilitation and maintenance during investigation, inquiry and
trail of the case.
· Right
to access information about trial, enquiry and trial such as recorded FIR and
provision of laws and allied schemes of relief for victims, their relatives.
· Right
to access relief in cash or kind.
· Right
of atrocity victims and their dependents to take assistance from Non-Government
Organizations, social workers and advocates.
Soon after the introduction of the
amendment Bill in the Parliament, the Lok Sabha Speaker referred the Bill to
the Parliamentary standing committee for further deliberation.
Conclusion:
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014 introduced in budget
session 2014-15 replaces ordinance brought in by UPA-II government in March
2014. The proposed amendments in the principal act comprehensively addresses
issues of non-implementation, in-effectiveness and number of loopholes in the
existing law as highlighted by various human rights organizations, Dalit
activists and public institutions. The amendments in the Act will ensure wider
protection and timely justice to the victims of caste atrocities. It has
already been delayed for so many reasons, but now it is up to the Parliament
and political parties to understand the urgency of the amendment Bill to
provide relief to the SCs and STs who constitute almost one forth of Indian
population.
Jeet
Singh
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