[Reader-list] SC/ST Act: The brutal letter of the law

[Shivam Vij]

The brutal letter of the law
Legislation to protect Dalits is not being misused. In a country still
imprisoned in vicious caste prejudice, it is simply not used.

By COLIN GONSALVES
The Indian Express, 19 April 2005
http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=68662

Accustomed, as we are, to lawyers and judges saying that the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
is being misused, I was amazed to find and document over the last few
years, that in fact, the Act is not being used at all. Dalits who try
to register a first information report about an offence are faced with
insurmountable obstacles. The police are arrogant and offensive. A
majority of criminal cases do not get registered at all. When
complaints are written by the police, these materially depart from the
story orally communicated. The names of accused persons will be found
missing. The description of the atrocity will be diluted. The actual
words of abuse will be omitted. Finally, the police will threaten the
victim with a counter case.

Under the Act, the investigation is to be done by a police officer not
lower in rank than a Deputy Superintendent of Police. However, in many
cases the investigation is done by junior officers and these trials
are invariably quashed. On the filing of a chargesheet, bail is
invariably granted. Immediately on their release, they begin
threatening the complainants, forcing them to withdraw the complaint
or turn hostile in court.

When a Dalit persists with a criminal case, a social and economic
boycott begins. The services of Dalit labourers connected with the
complainant are invariably terminated and they find no employment.
Shops will not sell them goods. Ultimately, they will be forced to
leave the village or face terrible physical reprisal. Then come the
prosecutors to mess up the litigation further. Drawn mainly from the
upper castes they immediately identify with the accused and begin
sabotaging the criminal trial. They will not summon the relevant
witnesses. They will advise witnesses for the prosecution to make such
statements as will weaken the prosecution's case. They will not
produce relevant forensic evidence available to them. Finally, they
will argue with a lack of conviction so as to indicate to the judge
that the case lacks merits. Truly, the entire judicial system where
Dalits are so under-represented, operates unequally against the
victims of these most heinous crimes. It is no wonder that Dalit
lawyers throughout the country have repeatedly made the demand for
reservation in the judiciary. It is equally no wonder that judges
throughout the country have uniformly rejected this demand. As a
result, the Act remains unimplemented with judges, lawyers,
prosecutors, and policemen hardly interested in the implementation of
the statute.

A study done by People's Watch in Tamil Nadu and by Sakshi in Andhra
Pradesh shows that the rate of conviction is less then 1 per cent. A
social audit by government is sorely needed. But if the Act is hardly
being used, why does the legal fraternity propagate the myth that the
Act is being misused? The answer to this lies in the deep-rooted
nature of casteism in our country. Filthy abuse is common. Forcing
Dalits to vote against their will for an upper caste candidate is
common. Recently in Punjab, Dalits were forced to drink urine from a
shoe. Instances of stripping and parading Dalit women are regularly
reported. Even abject hunger and malnutrition does not diminish the
crippling power of caste. After the Supreme Court made it mandatory
for the mid-day meal to be served in every primary school, the upper
castes were most unhappy that their children had to sit and eat
together with the scheduled castes and they were even more offended
when the cooks and helpers appointed under the orders of the Supreme
Court were Dalits.

Though the Act is a marvelous piece of legislation, none of the
sub-sections of section 3—which lists the atrocities—are used by the
police save section (X) which deals with insults in a public place. It
is my impression that the provisions relating to forfeiture of
property of accused persons, the removal of persons likely to commit
an offence from the area and the imposition of a collective fine have
never been used. Under Section 18 of the Act anticipatory bail cannot
be granted, yet there are many instances of grant of bail.

Under the rules, the authorities are to take proactive steps to
prevent atrocities from taking place. They are required to visit the
area, cancel the gun licenses of the upper castes, seize firearms, set
up vigilance committees and deploy special police forces. After the
atrocity takes place the authorities are to draw up a list of victims,
prepare a detailed report of the loss and damage to the property of
victims, provide protection to witnesses, provide immediate relief in
the form of cash, food, water, clothing, shelter, medical aid,
compensation and transport facilities. Every state government is
required to provide for relief including, allotment of agricultural
land and house sites, government employment, pension for widows and
other dependents, houses, compensation and healthcare facilities. None
of these provisions have ever been followed. It is no wonder then,
that this section of society—oppressed a hundred times over with no
sign of any redressal within the democratic framework—should in large
numbers join the ranks of Naxalites and take up arms against the
state. Particularly in the northern belt, fleeing brutal social and
economic oppression, they join the militants in the thousands.

Treated by society as less than human, they find in the ranks of the
dispossessed, a new sense of dignity and purpose. Violence can never
be justified. But when one studies the miserable lives of the
Scheduled Castes in our country and their struggle for a humane
existence, one cannot help but sympathise with the choices they are
forced to make. We have only ourselves to blame.

The writer is a lawyer and a civil rights activist 



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