“If one uses common sense, the current Prevention of Atrocities Act is stringent and misused. But the government statistics and everyday incidents of brutal and subtle violence against Dalits and Adivasis prove that the Act is simply not working. Perpetrators use ambiguities and loopholes in the Act to evade punishment. An insensitive judiciary and police contribute in their own way to work around the Act.”
– Ramesh Nathan, general convener of the National Coalition for Strengthening of SC/ST PoA Act
This was the opinion of the convener of the National Coalition for Strengthening of SC/ST PoA Act and it appears he was right.
A rather horrific incident has been reported in Hasanpur village, Kotwali Dehat, Etah. The incident took place on June 1 where a Dalit man was maimed in his private parts by two Caste Hindu men who even kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, merely over an issue of cutting a tree.
The FIR states that on June 14, accused Vikram Singh and Bhure Thakur started cutting the Babool tree which was on the victim’s land. When the victim protested, they started abusing him calling him “Ch***r” and then angered by his protest got a knife and attacked him in his crotch, thus cutting off more than half of his penis, says the FIR states this account. When the victim’s wife came out hearing her husband’s screams, Satendra attacked her with the axe in his hand. When both of them rushed to their home, scared for their lives, the accused ran behind them and pushed the victim’s pregnant wife on the floor and kicked her on her stomach. Hearing their screams, other villagers gathered on the scene and saved the victims from the accused. The accused while leaving the spot threatened them that if they complained to the police, they would kill them.
Etah Police has said that they have registered an FIR and the investigation is in progress. However, DSP Vikrant Dwivedi has stated that the allegation that the accused stabbed the victim in his crotch was wrong and that the injury was caused during a scuffle between the two.
The Dalit woman has said that when they approached the police immediately after the incident, they refused to lodge a complaint and they had to take a lawyer with them to get the FIR registered. She further said that they are not living in the village anymore since they are being threatened by the family of the accused and she also said that she does not know the condition of her unborn child, reported Navbharat Times.
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 has been around for years and yet there has been no decline in crimes against Dalits.
On the other hand, the crimes are increasing instead and the nature of these crimes and the reasons for provocation of these crimes keep getting bizarre by the day. Especially Uttar Pradesh sees crimes on Dalits more regularly. Since 2018, as many as 49,613 cases of atrocities and attacks on Dalits have been registered in Uttar Pradesh and these are only the cases that have been registered. The ones that don’t get reported for either being deemed trivial or due to the Caste Hindus influence on the Police are still unknown figures.
Related:
Firozabad District Court: Conviction delivered 4 decades after massacre of 10 Dalits