Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, August 3: While welcoming the central government’s decision to bring legislation to restore some of the key provisions of the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe (Prevention of atrocities) Act 1989, which were struck down by the Supreme Court on March 20, 2018, the Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today demanded effective and proper implementation of the law, as conviction rate is quite low under this Act.
The spokesman of the party said here on Friday that banning FIRs, automatic arrests and providing for anticipatory bail had diluted the spirit of the law and had sparked countrywide protest from the Dalit community. The spokesman said this is the only law protecting the dalit community from bias, discrimination and humiliation. Therefore making it toothless through judicial verdict was not justified. The spokesman however said the major question lies in its effective implementation to prevent upper caste aggression in the country where caste power and brutality are grim realities. The spokesman said the Act had led to the feeling of empowerment in the dalit community especially in rural areas where upper caste have stranglehold over power structure. Thus its dilution was a major setback for the dalit community, the spokesman said and added now restoration of original version of the Act would hopefully satisfy the community but its proper implementation at the ground level is still required.
The spokesman quoting data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) further said that national conviction rate under the Act was 16% in 2016 with just 3% in Karnataka. The spokesman said reduction in percentage of conviction rate had been going one since 2010, which amply indicated the its faulty implementation. The spokesman said upper caste dominance in the police has been major stumbling block in its implementation resulting into poor conviction. The spokesman said terming the case “false” and closing it with final report have been largely reported. Referring to the survey of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) the spokesman said more than 77% cases under the SC, ST Act were bracketed as “false” by Rajasthan police. Thus the spokesman said fundamental problem of bias and prejudice in its implementation should be addressed and the new legislation being brought before the Parliament should look into this matter properly so that dalit community’s concern could be resolved. (Credit Image: hindustantimes.com)
