“ despite various measures to improve the socio – economic conditions of SCs and STs , they remain vulnerable ”. “ They are denied a number of civil rights . They are subjected to various offences , indignities , humiliations and harassments ... A special legislation to check and deter crimes committed against them in the non – scheduled tribes has , therefore , become necessary ”. The result was the enactment of SCs / STs ( Prevention of Atrocities ) Act in 1989 . Again , this Act was amended in 2015 incorporating the provisions of punishment to the casteist slurs against Dalits and denying the anticipatory bails to the accused . The Amendments made the Act stringent by treating the actions like tonsure of head , moustache , or similar acts , derogatory to the dignity of people belonging to the SC and S . T . community , as atrocities .
This history of Acts make two points clear : One : The masses of Dalit and other oppressed people had to fight against the exploiting classes , the state and upper casteist forces whether there was a law or not to uphold or protected their rights . Two : The very fact that more stringent anti – atrocities laws had to be enacted one after the other only point out that the laws could not stop the atrocities and they got further intensified necessitating Dalits and other oppressed people to continue the struggle .
The data from the National Crime Records Bureau says that a crime is committed against a Dalit every 15 minutes . Six Dalit women are raped every day . Over the last 10 years ( 2007 – 2017 ), the crimes against Dalits had shown a 66 per cent growth . It is every body ’ s knowledge that only a fraction of Dalits , who suffer various kinds of indignities , atrocities and murderous attacks in the hands of landlords , politically powerful as well as upper casteist forces file
16 complaints in the police stations . Most of the victims do not even dare to complain because they fear or are threatened , violently blockaded and attacked if they complain . Likewise , we have countless instances where the complaints are not accepted in the police station , or thrown into the dust bins or the complaints are forced to be withdrawn . The cases are weakened and made ineffective before they reach the point of judgment . The complainant with weak economic background , find totally unequal to those who had committed the atrocities . It is every body ’ s knowledge that 90 per cent of the cases ended up with the acquittal of the accused leaving the victims of atrocity at the end in a ruined state .
So , the problem faced by the Dalits as well as other poor is their utter inability to use an Act rather than misusing it as the Judges sought to allege . But it is wealthy and dominating classes who are better placed to do so . They can use or misuse , or violate or keep aside or bend a law to suit their own interests against the overwhelming majority of exploited and oppressed people . The provisions of some laws ( including the Land Reform Laws ) that are said to be pro-people and a product of a prolonged and organised struggle of the people are reduced into mere sheets of white paper the moment they are enacted . The teeth of certain laws become sharper and all powerful whenever the dominant classes and the state are in need of crushing the unrest , protest and struggle of the exploited and oppressed people . Countrywide Protest
Thus the March 20 th 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court sought to do away with whatever the legal protections the people had won through struggle . It boosted up the morale of the forces who are working overtime to blockade the people ’ s struggle . Quite naturally , the judgment had invited a powerful and Country wide protest from the people . The April 2 nd , 2018 Bharat Bandh came only in this wake . Thousands of Dalit and other oppressed people came into the streets in UP , MP , Gujarat , Maharashtra , Haryana , Punjab , Telangana , AP and other states . At several places , the schools were closed ; trains were stopped ; roads were blockaded and shops were closed . The protesters clashed with the police . The Governments in the states had suspended the Internet services at several places ; imposed Sec . 144 ; deployed the armed police in a big way ; arrested hundreds of protesters , fired teargas shells and gunned down at least 9 people in different states .
The BJP Govt . at the centre sought to dismiss the protest as a product of BSP ’ s conspiracy . But the massive nature of the protest had enhanced its fear of growing alienation from the Dalit and other oppressed people . It contemplated the filing of Review Petition on the Supreme Court judgment , lately and half heartedly as a measure of damage control . Episode of Review Petition
The Review Petition filed by the Centre on April 2 nd 2o18 appealed the Supreme Court to stay its order barring automatic arrests and the registration of criminal cases under the Act . It appealed to keep the judgment in abeyance “ as it sparked widespread protests ”. But the court has turned down the appeals saying that “ those protesting on the streets may not have even read our judgment . They are being misled by some vested interests , so that does not concern us ”. Rejecting the Govt ’ s appeal to delete certain parts of its order that referred to misuse of the Act , the court curiously argued that “ it was not their view that the SCs and STs Act was being misused ; rather , govt statistics pointed towards it ”. The
Class Struggle