New Delhi: Nearly 98% of all crime against Scheduled Caste (SC) communities in 2022 were reported from 13 states with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh leading the charts, a new government report says.
The annual report under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (PoA Act) for the year 2022, published last week, shows that crimes against those listed as Scheduled Tribes (ST) were also concentrated in 13 states, accounting for nearly 99% of the cases.
While the latest report says 52,766 cases of crimes against those from SC communities were registered under the PoA Act, data given by Union minister of state for social justice Ramdas Athawale in July this year had put this figure at 57,571 – a difference of 4,805 cases.
The annual report also underquotes the numbers of cases listed by state as compared to the information provided by Athawale in response to an unstarred question by Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha in July.
As per the PoA report, Uttar Pradesh registered 12,287 cases under crimes against SC communities. However, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data quoted by Athawale had put the figure at 15,368 – a difference of 3,081 cases.
There is also a difference of 101 cases in the figures for Rajasthan, with 8,651 cases reported in the PoA report while the data quoted by the minister put it at 8,752.
Figures for Madhya Pradesh (7,732) and Bihar (6,509) were the same in both reports. Maharashtra saw 2,276 cases in the PoA report against the 2,743 according to NCRB data, marking a difference of 476 cases.
“Thirteen states, cumulatively accounting for 97.7% (51,656) of the total cases (52,866) relating to offences of atrocities against members of SCs, registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, in conjunction with the Indian Penal Code, during the year 2022,” the PoA report said.
There is also a difference of more than 300 cases in total crimes against ST communities – 9,735 cases in the PoA report against the 10,064 cases according to the data given by the minister.
Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of atrocities against the ST community with 2,979 cases per both reports. This was followed by Rajasthan which registered 2,498 cases per the PoA report and 2,521 according to the NCRB data.
Other parameters
The PoA report also provided data on the status of investigations and charge-sheeting under the Act.
Nearly 61% or 42,026 cases related to the SC community were chargesheeted in courts, the PoA report said. Final reports (such as false, mistake of fact/law, true but insufficient evidence) were submitted in almost 15% of the cases. Investigation remained pending in 17,166 cases, it added.
For ST-related cases, 63.32% resulted in charge sheets being filed while 14.71% ended with final reports. At the end of the period under review, 2,702 cases involving atrocities against STs were still under investigation.
The report also highlighted a decline in conviction rate for cases under the Act. In 2022, the conviction rate dropped to 32.4% from 39.2% in 2020.
Athawale, in his July response, had said that one of the provisions included under the PoA Act to make it more effective was the “establishment of exclusive Special Courts and specification of exclusive Special Public Prosecutors to exclusively try offences under the PoA Act to enable expeditious disposal of cases.” These courts also had the power “to take direct cognisance of offences and as far as possible, completion of trial within two months from the date of filing of the charge sheet, establishing rights of victims and witnesses, and strengthening preventive measures,” he said.
The PoA report points to the inadequate number of special courts set up to handle cases under the law. Of 498 districts in 14 states, only 194 had established special courts to expedite trials in these cases.
The report also identified specific districts particularly prone to atrocities with only 10 states and Union Territories declaring such districts. Interestingly, Uttar Pradesh, which reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against SCs, was among the states which said “No atrocity prone areas have been identified in the State of Uttar Pradesh”.
