-The Pioneer
With an average of 93 crime against SC/STs being reported daily, a number of dalit human rights groups on Thursday urged the Government to amend the SC/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the Winter Session of Parliament to ensure speedy trial and higher conviction for such crimes.
These groups, united under National Coalition for Strengthening SCs and STs, have approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council and various political parties seeking their support in this endeavour. They have also decided to hold march towards the national capital on November 23 to pressurise the Government to check incidents of crime against dalits.
The National Crime Records Bureau has shown that between 1995 and 2007 the average number of crime registered under the Act was 33,956 per year bringing the daily average to 93 instances. But the conviction rate during the period was only 30.3 percent, pointed out Prasad Sirivella, general secretary of the National Dalit Movement for Justice. Over 80 percent atrocities cases are pending trial year, he lamented.
The Coalition wants the Government to set up exclusive courts in every district of the country to deal with incidents of atrocities against dalits, said PS Krishnan, a former bureaucrat. Also crimes like social and economic boycott of dalits and adivasis and evicting them from land should also be brought under the Act.