The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Crime against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) communities saw a sharp increase between 2018 and 2022, with atrocities against both marginalised communities doubling in Rajasthan, the government has said.
According to data provided by minister of state for social justice, Ramdas Athawale, in response to an unstarred question by Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, Uttar Pradesh has consistently led the charts on crimes against SC communities, while Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of crimes against those listed as STs in the same period.
In Uttar Pradesh, crimes against SC communities increased from 11,924 in 2018 to 15,368 in 2022. In Rajasthan, instances of atrocities against the community doubled from 4,607 in 2018 to 8,752 in 2022. Other states that fared poorly on curbing violence against SC communities include Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Madhya Pradesh consistently recorded the highest number of crimes against ST communities s between 2018-22 with the number increasing from 1,868 to 2,979 in the five-year period. This was followed by Rajasthan, where atrocities against the community doubled from 1,095 to 2,521 in the same duration, data shows.
According to the data, total crimes against SCs increased from 42,793 in 2018 to 57,571 in 2022, while those against STs shot up from 6,528 to 10,064 in the same period.
Athawale’s response
The Union minister said that the responsibility of maintaining law and order, including the protection of marginalised communities such as the SCs and STs, lies with the states and Union territories as ‘police’ and ‘public ‘order’ are state subjects under the Constitution.
“The state governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws. However, the Government of India is committed to ensure protection of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” the minister, in his written response, said.
The minister added that the Bureau of Police Research and Development conducts training, courses and webinars from time to time for police personnel sensitising them for effective implementation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities) (PoA) Act, 1989.
The government has also issued advisories on the implementation of the PoA Act, he added.
Athawale said that the PoA Act was amended in 2015 to make it more effective and “provide greater justice”.
“To make the [PoA Act] more effective and to provide greater justice and enhanced redressal to injustice suffered by the atrocity victims, the Act has been amended in 2015. The amendment includes new offences, expanded scope of presumptions, institutional strengthening, which inter-alia includes establishment of Exclusive Special Courts and specification of Exclusive Special Public Prosecutors to exclusively try offences under the PoA Act,” Athawale said.
The amendment also directs “expeditious disposal of cases, power of Special and Exclusive Special Courts 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” he added.
After this amendment, conduct of a preliminary enquiry before registration of an FIR or to seek approval of any authority prior to arrest of an accused is no longer required, Athawale said.