“A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society”- Dr BR Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste.

We certainly have miles to go before we can even get close to the compassionate society the Babasaheb envisioned. It is shocking to document that 2021 has been a year that has seen exacerbated attacks on Dalits and Adivasis (indigenous tribal communities).

While shockingly many of these attacks on Adivasis have been by government’s security forces on the pretext of fighting insurgency by Maoists, and its Forest department weaponised by the State, the attacks on Dalits are a result of re-inforced historic discrimination and alienation they have always faced. The current dispensation has been brutally targeting the community and its human rights defenders (HRDs) especially those engaged in the enforcement and struggle for constitutional rights.

While some measure of space and political representation has been ensured due to the affirmative action of reservations, decades after independence, the Dalits have not achieved total emancipation. Sub-castes within castes, the scourge of untouchability worst manifest in manual scavenging is a major part of the story. The other is the sanskritisation of a section of the more “influential” Dalit into the upper-class, upper-caste (read Brahmanical) fold. All this, despite Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar having given a call to annihilate caste system, one that allows the systemic discrimination and exclusion of Dalits from its social hierarchy. Decades later, Dalits continue to be vulnerable to such attacks which are not just violent in nature but also emerge from trivial social stigma such as entry into temples, access to cremation grounds, sporting a moustache, riding a horse and so on.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Crimes in India report of 2020 records that a person from a Scheduled Caste (SC) faced crime every 10 minutes in India in the past year, cumulating to a total of 50,291 cases registered in 2020, an increase of 9.4% from the previous year. Crimes against scheduled tribe (ST) communities also increased by 9.3% to a total of 8,272 cases in that year.

This year too has been no different. Here’s are some of the most shocking instances of crimes against Dalits and Adivasis in 2021.

Attacks on Dalits

December 28: A 16-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly beaten and molested in Raipur Phulwari town in UP’s Amethi. This came to light when purported video of “16-year-old Dalit girl being beaten up and molested” surfaced on social media.

December 20: A 20-year-old Dalit girl was abducted and murdered  when she went to the toilet, allegedly by “upper caste” men in Shahpur village, Vaishali, Bihar. The assailants belonged to the same village and are said to be “Thakurs”.  On December 26, a group of women who had taken their flock of goats to graze, found a body submerged in a pond. It was later was identified as that of the Dalit girl.

December 13: One Balwant Singh, who was defeated in a village block election in Aurangabad, Bihar was caught on camera forcing a Dalit man lick spit as ‘punishment’ as he blamed the Dalit community for his loss, and abused the two men identified as Anil Kumar and Manjeet Kumar. He made them hold their ears and do sit-ups, made one of them lick spit, to humiliate them in public.

December 2: A 35-year-old Adivasi man identified as Sunil Pasi was beaten up by villagers in Khetko under Bagodar police station area of Giridih district, Jharkhand. The attackers suspected Pasi “of being a cattle thief” and had kept him hostage. Shabad Ansari, a high court lawyer and member of Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha told mediapersons, “It is unfortunate that incidents of mob justice and lynching over religion and caste are taking place in Jharkhand. We want the government to take stern action, arrest all culprits and ensure a complete stop on such incidents.” According to Bagodar-Sariya sub-divisional police officer Naushad Alam, police reached the spot and rushed a critically injured Pasi to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

November 21: in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, it was reported that Ashok Saket, a Dalit worker’s hand was chopped off by his “upper caste” employer as the worker went to him seeking his wages. The employer, Garesh Mishra, refused to give the wages, verbally abused Saket with caste slurs and said he would not pay the full wages. However, Saket insisted on full wages, and didn’t accept the amount proposed by Mishra. This enraged Mishra who then allegedly attacked Saket with a sword. Instinctively Saket tried to shield himself, but the sword landed on his hand and severed it.

November 26: Four members of a Dalit family were brutally murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj district’s Phaphamau area on November 26, allegedly over a land dispute. Bodies of the 50-year-old man, his 47-year-old wife, 17-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, were found on their beds inside their home at Phaphamau. The victims had been attacked with an axe and killed. The teenaged girl had allegedly been gang-raped before she was killed. A relative reportedly told the media that “a land dispute and alleged that members of an ‘upper-caste’ family had issued physical and verbal threats to the Dalit family in the past.” Locals also alleged that the “family had approached the police station to lodge an FIR but were rebuffed.” 

November 12: A minor Dalit boy was beaten up mercilessly in Tirsingda village of Barmer Rajasthan as he dared to drink water from a tap ‘owned’ by an upper caste man. The victim’s family told the media that they were threatened with dire consequences if they passed through that area again. Reportedly, the child was so badly beaten that he may have sustained a spinal injury.

October 27: Six members of a Dalit family were assaulted by 20 persons allegedly for merely entering a Ram temple in Kutch, Gujarat. Even their farmlands were ravaged after they allegedly entered the village temple during a ceremony organised by another community. The attack was reported from a village in Bhachau taluka of Gandhidham city of Kutch and took place around October 27.

October 16:  In Chhatar village in Jind’s Uchana sub-division more than 150 Dalit families were denied ration, medicine and were faced with a social boycott by “upper caste” families. They were boycotted as a means to build pressure to withdraw a case where a Dalit boy was beaten up by some “upper caste” people during a Kabaddi match.

October 19: A Dalit labourer, Lakhbir Singh’s mutilated body was found at the Kundli border near the farmers’ protest site. The Nihangs, a section within the Sikh community, claimed that members had reacted in response to the victim’s attempt to insult their holy text Guru Granth Sahib. Lakhbir was brutally beaten up, murdered, his hand chopped off and the body tied on the barricade behind the main stage of the farmers protest site.

October 14: A physics teacher at a government school in Chidambaram town, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu was held for allegedly flogging and kicking his 17-year-old Dalit student studying in Class 12. Based on the student’s complaint, the teacher has been booked under Sections 294 (b) (uttering obscenities), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act read with Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2016 and was sent to judicial custody

October 1: Principal of primary school in Gaderi in Sangrampur area, Amethi, UP was accused of allegedly forming a “separate queue of Dalit children” when they are served the midday meal and an FIR was registered under sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act. The Principal, Kusum Soni was reportedly suspended.

September 28: A Dalit man, Sahab Singh, faced open threats from Thakurs of Daudapur village, Mainpuri district, UP after he exposed that the school in the village was forcing children belonging to the Scheduled Castes to wash the utensils they used for their mid-day meals and then keeping them separate from other utensils. Singh, has alleged that the Thakur’s of his village “are openly saying that they won’t let a Dalit continue to remain the village pradhan. They used caste slurs on me as well. They are threatening to break my bones and even shoot me”. According to Mainpuri Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Kamal Singh, the allegations of caste discrimination at the school, were true. 

September 15: A 14-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly sexually harassed and subjected to casteist slurs in a village under the Budhana police station limits in Uttar Pradesh. Additional Superintendent of Police Atul Shrivastava told the media that the accused has been arrested, and a case has been registered.

September 13: A 45-year-old Dalit village pradhan at Semardari village in Gorakhpur district was beaten to death with sticks and stones during a clash. There was an altercation over the right of way for the accused’s vehicle. 

September 13: A 16-year-old Dalit boy was found hanging in the bathroom of a juvenile home in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district and the family alleged that he had been “brutally beaten up by upper caste inmates” of the juvenile home. The teenager reportedly asked his father to take him away from the juvenile home alleging that inmates, in collusion with staff, would thrash him brutally. He was remanded to the juvenile home as he was accused of kidnapping an upper caste girl while the family stated that the girl and the boy were in love.

September 10: Bijnore Police arrested a daily wager named Shahzad, for allegedly killing a 24-year-old Dalit woman who was a national-level kho-kho player whose body was found near a railway track in Bijnor. Police told the media that the accused had intended to rape the woman, but “panicked when she screamed and then strangled her with her own dupatta.”  

September 4: A Dalit family was made to pay Rs 25,000 as fine after a two-year-old child of the family toddled into Anjaneya Temple in Miyapur of Koppal, Karnataka. locals belonging to the so called ‘upper caste’ demanded money from the child’s family for ‘purification’ rituals at the temple they claimed had been defiled. More than 10 days after the Dalit family was ‘fined’ Rs 25,000, the Kushtagi police registered a case under the SC/ST prevention of atrocities Act on Wednesday and arrested five people of Miyapur village.

August 21: Seven members of a Dalit family were brutally assaulted on suspicion of performing black magic at Wani in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra. At least 13 villagers were arrested in this regard. The family members suffered thrashing and mud-flinging by a mob at the village square; three were tied to wooden poles out of which two were women. Only five family members had survived when the news was reported.

August 20: The Dalit community in Malewadi village of Solapur district was refused the right to cremate the body of a 74-year-old Dhananjay Sathe at the crematorium situated adjacent to the farmland of the OBC Mali community. The community then burnt the body in front of the gram panchayat office as a sign of protest. Family members said the other community members had been aggressively discriminatory against the only two Dalit households in the village since a Dashrath Sathe (brother of the deceased) was elected village sarpanch.

August 2:  A Dalit labourer Anuj, hailing from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh was beaten to death by a mob after a girl alleged that she was molested by him and three others.

August 1: A nine-year-old Dalit girl, belonging to Valmiki community was allegedly raped, murdered and her body forcibly cremated by the alleged culprits. She was from Nangal village of Delhi cantonment area. The girl had stepped out in the evening to get cold water from the crematorium’s water cooler but failed to return. Her mother was later shown the body by the crematorium priest, who said that she was electrocuted while drinking water. The priest attempted to intimidate the mother from informing the police

August: In Nalanda, Bihar, 25-year-old Upendra Ravidas was killed for demanding his wages and dues of 10 kg rice. The accused Dinesh Mahto allegedly assaulted the victim before tying him to bricks and throwing him in the river. 

June 5: Vinod Bamnia, 21, an active member of the Bhim Army was attacked by a group of men belonging to an OBC community near his own house in Kikraliya village of Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district by men allegedly shouting casteist slurs as they assaulted him. The attackers reportedly, kept shouting “Aaj tumhe tumhara Ambedkarvad yaad dilvayenge (We will make you remember your Ambedkarite ideology today.”   This fatal attack is said to be an act of revenge and was carried out two weeks after these men had allegedly torn B R Ambedkar posters pasted outside Vinod’s home.

May 23: Eleven people belonging to an Other Backward Classes (OBC) group attacked Suresh Vaghela (22), a Dalit man, because he was “sporting a long moustache” in Ahmedabad’s Viramgam Taluka. The victim is from Karakthal village and works with Voltas in Sanand GIDC area of Ahmedabad.

May: Sub-inspector Arjun of Gonibeedu police station in Mudigere taluk, Bengaluru had allegedly forced a Dalit youth to drink an inmate’s urine. The victim, Punith, was taken into custody after complaints that he had caused some marital discord in the village. While in custody, when he asked for water. PSI Arjun forced another inmate to urinate on Punith and also forced him to lick it off the floor. PSI Arjun was arrested by CID in September.

April 15: A 17-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly forced to lick spit and drink urine for eloping with a a 15-year-old girl from the same Manjhi caste from Kadhauna village of Gaya district. The Wazirganj police arrested six persons from Kadhauna village, including the girl’s relatives who were forced to participate in the crime. 

March 31: A 22-year-old Dalit youth suffered extreme physical trauma to his private parts, when relatives of his upper-caste girlfriend allegedly physically assaulted him. The incident occurred in the Tikunia area of Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh. His girlfriend’s father Brahmendra and sons Raju, Gajraj and Bharat beat the young man with belts and sticks. It is alleged that the accused also crushed his private parts, inserted an iron rod into his rectum and thrashed him mercilessly. Doctors attending to Harendra confirmed injuries to his private parts.

March 6: Dalit activist Shiv Kumar, President of Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, who was arrested in January for allegedly violently protesting the harassment of factory workers in the Kundli Industrial Area in Sonipat, alleged after being released on bail that he was tortured while in custody. He told the media that his injuries include “broken toenail beds, fractures and symptoms of post-traumatic disorder”. “From January 16 to 23, I was constantly hit with sticks, abused and humiliated referring to my caste. I was not allowed to sleep. They were inhuman. They were always in plainclothes. None offered me first aid,” he said.

March 2: Amrabhai Boricha, a Dalit RTI activist and farmer was hacked to death, by a group of Kshatriya men, in his home in Sanodar village of Ghogha taluka in Bhavnagar district. He had filed a complaint against the Kshatriya men as they were trying to usurp his agricultural land as well as residential plot. Boricha’s was the only Dalit family residing in the village. He was assaulted in 2013 as well and Jayrajsinh Gohil, Bhaylubha Gohil and Virmadevsinh Jadeja have been convicted in that case. They are also accused of his murder, the trial of which is yet to conclude.

February 28: The body of a Dalit teenager who had gone to get fodder, was found dumped in the wheat fields near her village in the Akrabad area of Aligarh, UP. It was suspected that the teenager may have also been sexually assaulted.

February 17: three Dalit girls were found with their hands and legs tied in the field in Babura village, Asoha police station area, in UP’s Unnao. The family members say that the girls had gone to the fields in the afternoon to fetch fodder for the cattle and did not return until late evening. There were indications that one girl was poisoned. Two of them were dead and 1 was in critical state.

February 4: A five-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and killed in Morena district, MP by the accused who was released from jail after 6 months of being incarcerated on charge of molesting the minor victim’s aunt.

Adivasis and tribals under attack

December 23: A 15-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and murdered in Rajasthan’s Bundi district. The minor’s body bearing bite marks and fatal wounds to the neck and the head was found in a forest area near Kalakunwa village under the Basoli police station area.

August 29: A 45-year-old tribal man Kanhaiyalal Bheel was beaten mercilessly, tied to a pick-up van and dragged along the road for 7 kms in Neemuch, MP. A video of the incident went viral, prior to which the case was being passed off as a road accident. The police arrested 8 persons including husband of the Sarpanch of the village.

June 12: A fact finding report of Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) alleged that what was initially reported as an exchange of fire between security forces and “Maoists” in the Kuku-Piri forest, Latehar in Jharkhand was systemic violence by security forces against Adivasis. In his violence, young Bramhadev Singh lost his life. Six Adivasis including the deceased were out on an annual hunting ritual for the Sarhul festival when they came across the security personnel. The villagers carried Bhartua guns that have been in their families for generations. They use these guns to hunt small prey like rabbits, pigs and chickens, and to protect crops from pests. The security forces fired at the group without warning, according to JJM’s report. The villagers also told the fact-finding team that none of the six victims were associated with the Maoist organisation.

May 31: A 24-year-old tribal woman was gunned down in an alleged Maoist encounter in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh by District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel. Her mother, however, claims that she was picked up from their house by the police and alleges that when the body was handed to them, it was mutilated. The mother also alleges that her daughter was raped. The Sarpanch of the village supported the claims of the family and said that the victim was involve with Maoists 5 years ago, but had returned home a few years ago and there were no weapons in the house neither did she carry any.

May 17: The police allegedly opened fire at peaceful protestors, claimed residents of Silger village resulting in death of 9 tribals. Tribals from over 30 villages of Sukma and Bijapur had gathered in protest outside thew CRPF camp in Sukma protesting the setting up of the security camp. The security forces alleged that it was “Naxal cadres, in the garb of protesting villagers,” attacked the Silger camp with “stones and gunshots”. The District Collector, Sukma directed the Magistrate to conduct an inquiry in the matter

May 13: Bodies of five people of the same tribal family, including minors, were found almost reduced to skeletons in a pit, Nemavar, in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district. The family had been missing since May 13. They had been strangled, stripped, buried 10 feet deep with urea and salt added to accelerate decomposition.  According to police the victims’ landlord “was in a relationship with one of the victims”, and that nearly half a dozen of his accomplices were behind the murder. Bahujan activist Suraj Kumar Baudh called it a “caste massacre” and said, “There is a caste angle because the man [accused] proudly calls himself a Rajput and a national leader of an organisation called the Hindu Kesaria Sangh.”

Related:

Hate Watch: Man loses Panchayat election, forces Dalit voter to lick spit!
Segregated burial grounds, a violation of the Constitution: Madras High Court
Hate Watch: Dalit worker’s hand chopped for seeking wages in MP
Uttar Pradesh: 4 of Dalit family masacred in Prayagraj
Two young Dalit girls attacked, where is the outrage?

The post Dalits and Adivasis suffered violence and discrimination even in 2021 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its recently released data, has said that nearly 10,159 students committed suicide in the year 2018, and nearly 81,758 in the last decade.

The ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2018’ report by the bureau stated that topping the charts in case of students suicides was the state of Maharashtra with 1,448 suicides, with Tamil Nadu coming in second at 953, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 862, Karnataka at 755 and West Bengal at 609.

The number of suicides in Maharashtra was 14.3% of the total number and according to the report, the total number of suicides surged by 3.6% to 134,516 in 2018 from 129,887 in 2017.

While the number of student suicides in 2017 was 9,905, the figure in 2018 increased 2.6 percent to 10,159 (7.6% of the total number).

Failure in examinations accounted for 2 percent of student suicides, with 1,529 students below the age of 18 and 1,034 between the ages of 18 and 30 and 53 students from the ages of 30 to 45 years having ended their lives.

With one student committing suicide every hour, inability of coping with failure and the fear of letting their family down makes students resort to such desperate measures. However, according to a blog post by Your Dost, an online counseling service, only 30 percent of student suicides are due to failure in examinations.

Forced career choices say psychologists; especially with parents forcing their kids to take up only conventional careers and the inability of kids to speak up about the pressure, especially with their parents, is also a major contributor to the student suicide numbers.

Even caste discrimination, as we have seen in the cases of medical student Payal Tadvi and engineering student Fathima Lathif, has driven many aspirants over the edge. Also, no importance on mental health, with the country spending only 0.06% of its budget for addressing mental health concerns, is another factor that is often swept under the carpet.

Currently, the country only has around 5,000 psychiatrists and even fewer clinical psychologists for a population of 1.3 billion people. Though schools and universities are opening up wellness centers for their students on campus, what is likely to help more is the administration of the District Mental Health Programme which comprises of counseling services, suicide prevention services, stress management and life skills training.

Also, with social media coming into the picture, emotional and mental disturbances have taken a turn for the worse. The need for social acceptance and external validation, especially when we’re going from social animals to being individualists, has ended up making students vulnerable and more susceptible to taking harmful decisions with regards to their lives. Peer pressure combined with parental pressure has proven to be a deadly combination for the students of India.

Even though the government has introduced several strategies like lightening the syllabus, introducing counselors and special educators in schools and conducting seminars on motivation, these have not stopped the number of student suicides increase year on year.

Apart from making parents more open to unconventional careers and teaching students to successfully navigate societal pressure, it is imperative to build a solidarity network where teachers, educators, counselors and peer groups come together to detect and help children who are suffering from this silent threat.

Related:

Telangana board examination results prompt spate of student suicides
Chorus demanding justice for ‘institutional murder’ of Dr Payal Tadvi grows
Increase in student suicides: Commercialisation of education dividing, destroying youth power

The post Exam failure major trigger for student suicides: NCRB appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
The rate of crime against women–crimes per 100,000 female population–was 55.2 in 2016, up from 41.7 in 2012.
 
“Cruelty by husband or his relatives” was the most reported crime against women, accounting for 33% of all crimes in 2016. Rape accounted for 11% of all crimes against women with 38,947 cases reported in 2016, or four every hour.
 
The year 2016 saw the lowest conviction rate (18.9%)–percentage of cases convicted to cases in which trials were completed by the courts–for crimes against women in a decade.
 
As many as 2.5 million crimes against women have been reported in India over the last decade. Reported cases of crime against women increased 83% from 185,312 in 2007 to 338,954 in 2016.
 
“More than the increase in crime rate, it is increase in reporting,” Flavia Agnes, women’s rights lawyer and co-founder of Majlis, a non-profit that provides legal services to women and children, told IndiaSpend.
 
“There are no mechanisms to analyse such events,” said Agnes. “I feel that due to media pressure on certain brutally violent incidents, there is greater awareness, and women are coming forward to report crimes.”

Source: National Crime Records Bureau 2016; Previous Publications

Note: Prior to 2012, the crime rate was calculated on the basis of the population of India and state/union territory. From 2012, it is calculated based on the female population (incidences of crimes against women/female population x 100,000 female population).
 
Delhi reported highest crime rate against women
 
The union territory of Delhi reported the highest crime rate–160.4 against the national average of 55.2. Delhi was followed by Assam (131.3), Odisha (84.5), Telangana (83.7) and Rajasthan (78.3).
 
Uttar Pradesh–India’s most populous state–reported the most (15%) crimes against women in 2016–49,262, or six every hour. UP was followed by West Bengal (32,513), Maharashtra (31,388), Rajasthan (27,422) and Madhya Pradesh (26,604).
 
As many as 13,803 crimes against women were reported in Delhi city, or 38 every day, topping the list among 19 cities with populations more than 2 million in 2016, IndiaSpend reported on December 1, 2017.
 
Delhi city had the worst crime rate, 182.1 crimes per 100,000 women, against the national average of 77.2.
 
Cruelty by husband/relatives most reported crime against women in 2016
 
“Cruelty by husband or his relatives” was the most reported crime against women, accounting for 33% of all crimes in 2016–110,378 cases or 13 crimes every hour. Cases reported under this crime head increased 45% from 75,930 in 2007.
 
Cruelty by husband/relatives was followed by cases reported under “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (25%), “kidnaping & abduction of women” (19%) and “rape” (11%).
 
West Bengal reported the most cases of “cruelty by husband or his relatives” in 2016–19,302, or two every hour. Assam had the highest crime rate (58.7) in 2016 compared to the national average of 18.
 
As many as 84,746 cases of “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” were reported in 2016, or 10 cases every hour. Maharashtra reported the most cases in 2016–11,396, or one every hour. Delhi UT was the worst in crime rate (43.6), against the national average of 13.8.
 
Crimes covered under “assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty” include relatively more serious crimes such as ‘sexual harassment’, ‘assault or use of criminal force to women with intent to disrobe,’ ‘voyeurism’ and ‘stalking.’
 
The most cases under “kidnaping & abduction of women” were registered in Uttar Pradesh (12,994) with 65,519 cases nationwide, Delhi reported the highest crime rate (40.7) in 2016.
 
Four rape cases reported every hour in 2016, from 2 nine years ago
 
Four rape cases were reported every hour in the country in 2016, up from two every hour in 2007. Madhya Pradesh registered the most cases (4,882), while Sikkim reported the highest crime rate for rape (30.3). The nationwide crime rate was 6.3.
 
Reported rape cases have increased 88% from 20,737 in 2007 to 38,947 in 2016.
 
Of 39,068 rape victims in 2016, 43% were girls below 18 years. Offenders were known to the victim in 95% reported cases. Of these, 29% were “neighbours”, “known persons on promise to marry the victim” (27%) and “other known persons” (30%).
 
Delhi topped the list for most rapes reported among 19 cities with populations more than two million in 2016–1,996, or five every day, IndiaSpend reported on December 1, 2017. The city also ranked first in terms of crime rate (26.3 cases per 100,000 women) for rape, against the national average of 9.1.
 
Conviction rate for crime against women lowest in decade
 
At 18.9%, the conviction rate for crimes against women in 2016, as we said, was the lowest in since 2007.
 

Source: National Crime Records Bureau 2016; Previous Publications
 
West Bengal, which registered the second most number of crimes in 2016, reported the lowest conviction rate (3.3%).
 
Mizoram reported the highest conviction rate (88.8%) in 2016, followed by Meghalaya (67.7%), Puducherry (62.5%), Uttar Pradesh (52.6%) and Uttarakhand (46.2%).
 
In 2016, one in four rape cases in India ended in conviction–the lowest since 2012, IndiaSpend reported on August 28, 2017.
 
“Greater reporting and a dismal conviction rate spells disaster for women,” Agnes said.
 
“This means that with great faith in the system, victims and/or their relatives come forward to report crimes. After a rigorous criminal trial, if the accused is convicted, the victim gets a closure that she has secured justice. But when she has to withdraw or the verdict is adverse, the victim experiences a sense of failure and she is stigmatised.”
 
Agnes said the conviction rate is low in cases of “cruelty by husband or relatives” because if the couple decide to file for divorce under mutual consent, the demand is usually that the wife should withdraw the case she has filed under section 498A (section that deals with cruelty by husband or relatives).
 
“This does not mean that the case was false but she withdrew it only to bring in closure and move ahead with her life. Despite this, what we read in the media is that women file false cases despite the fact that women experience high degree of domestic violence in marriages,” she added.
 
What is needed, Agnes said, is victim-support programmes so that once a case is filed, the survivor gets support to face the daunting criminal legal system. “If this is done, it will not be such a lonely battle for the victim. We need a provision in law so that victim support is built  into the statute. Only then can we see change as more cases get registered.”
 
(Mallapur is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)
 
Courtesy: India Spend
 

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Shah and Thakur are examples of 282,879 undertrials in Indian prisons, according to Prison Statistics 2014, a number equal to the population of the Caribbean nation of Barbados.
 
An IndiaSpend analysis of available data reveals the extent of the problem: Between 2010 and 2014, 25% undertrials had been jailed for more than one year. The percentage of undertrials to total prisoners has remained over 65% during this period.
 
In 2014, seven in 10 prisoners were undertrials, and two in 10 had been detained for more than one year without being convicted.
 
Undertrials—those detained in prisons during trial, investigation or inquiry—are presumed innocent till proven guilty. But they are often subjected to psychological and physical torture during detention and exposed to prison violence and poor living conditions. Many lose their family ties and, often, their livelihoods.
 
Undertrials tend to have restricted access to legal representatives for two reasons: Lack of resources and curtailed liberty to communicate with lawyers from within the jail premises. This is despite a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that Article 21 of the Constitution entitles prisoners to a fair and speedy trial as part of their fundamental right to life and liberty.
 
The court also pointed out that prisoners face a “double handicap”—most are poor, come from disadvantaged social groups, have little education, and their voices are rarely heard.
 
“The judiciary and the government have admitted that many undertrials are poor people accused of minor offences, locked away for long periods because they don’t know their rights and cannot access legal aid,” Arijit Sen, manager, undertrials project at Amnesty International, an advocacy, told IndiaSpend in an email interview.
 
Undertrials often remain behind bars for years despite the provisions of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which came into effect in 2005. This section mandates the release, on personal bond with or without surety, of undertrial detainees who have been imprisoned for half the maximum sentence they would have received if convicted for the offence they are charged with.
 
This section does not apply to those who could be sentenced to death or life term. But 39% of those charged for crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) couldn’t be punished with life term or death penalty, Prison Statistics 2014 show. 
 
As many as 122,056 undertrial prisoners (43%) have been detained for more than six months to more than five years by the end of 2014. Many of them have remained in prison for more than the period of punishment they would have got had they been convicted.

 
Source: Prison Statistics, National Crime Records Bureau
 
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
 
J&K has the worst record for detention over one year
 
The number of undertrial prisoners in all detention periods increased over five years, except in the case of detention up to three months. The highest increase was seen in the category of detention for three-to-five years.
 
More than 25% of undertrial prisoners in 16 out of 36 states and union territories have been detained for more than one year in 2014. Jammu and Kashmir leads this list with 54%, followed by Goa (50%) and Gujarat (42%). Uttar Pradesh leads in terms of sheer numbers (18,214).
 
An attempt at reform
 
In June 2013, in a letter to the Supreme Court, former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti had talked about how inhuman conditions persisted in 1,382 prisons despite a series of court and government orders.
 
In response to this letter, which was later registered as a public interest writ petition–and despite the lukewarm response from the states–the Supreme Court, in a landmark 2014 judgement, ordered the immediate release of undertrial prisoners eligible to benefit under Section 436A of the CrPc by establishing an Under Trial Review Committee (UTRC) in every district, recommended by a 2013 interim order.
 
A UTRC includes the district judge, district magistrate and district superintendent of police, collectively responsible for speedy trials and review of cases. “About 6,000 undertrial prisoners were released between July 1, 2015, and January 31, 2016. This is certainly a step in the right direction,” Sen said.
 
However, those released were 2% of undertrial prisoners in Indian jails. The pendency rate of IPC crimes–84% and 86% in 2014 and 2015, respectively–shows how slow the process of change will be.
 
Why the reform had little impact
 
One of the major causes of high pendency is vacancies in lower courts, IndiaSpend reported in December 2015. It would take a minimum of 12 years to clear 25 million pending cases in Indian courts, IndiaSpend had reported.
 
There is also little awareness among police and prison inmates about Section 436A of the CrPC. This section, which is a procedural mandate under CrPC, is often mistaken for an offence under IPC, according to Amnesty International.
 
Non-functional UTRCs, discrepancies in prison records, poor management of information systems, lack of effective legal aid and cancellation of trials due to shortage of police escorts and video conference facilities are factors that keep the number of undertrial prisoners in Indian jails high, reported Amnesty International.
 
(Alexander is a policy analyst with BOOM, an independent digital journalism initiative.)
 
This article was first published on India Spend

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यही हो रहा है नेशनल क्राइम रिकॉर्ड ब्यूरो की 2015 की रिपोर्ट के साथ। इसमें फिलहाल उत्तर प्रदेश की समाजवादी पार्टी की सरकार निशाने पर है, तो आंकड़ों को संख्या के लिहाज से पेश किया जा रहा है, न कि आबादी के अनुपात के हिसाब से। बीस करोड़ से ऊपर की आबादी वाले राज्य में अगर दो करोड़ की आबादी वाले राज्य के बराबर भी अपराध हुए हों तो कायदे से बड़े राज्य की कानून-व्यवस्था अच्छी कही जानी चाहिए, लेकिन ये तब हो सकता है जब अपराधों को दर और आबादी के अनुपात में पेश किया जाए, जो कि नहीं होता।

नेशनल क्राइम रिकॉर्ड ब्यूरो की 2015 की रिपोर्ट ने साबित कर दिया है कि बलात्कार, हत्या, महिलाओं-बच्चियों की तस्करी और अन्य अपराधों में उत्तर प्रदेश और बिहार को बदनाम करना गलत है, जबकि मध्य प्रदेश, गुजरात, महाराष्ट्र, हरियाणा, छत्तीसगढ़ जैसे भाजपाशासित राज्य ही सबसे आगे हैं। कमोबेश यही स्थिति 2014 और उसके पहले भी रही है।

2015 की एनसीआरबी की रिपोर्ट के आंकड़ों को भी जनसंख्या से अलग हटकर केवल संख्यात्मक रूप से दिखाकर ये साबित किया जाता है कि उत्तर प्रदेश में अपराध ज्यादा हैं। इस बात की अनदेखी की जाती है कि उत्तर प्रदेश की आबादी 20 करोड़ से ज्यादा है, जबकि महाराष्ट्र की करीब साढ़े 11 करोड़, बिहार की साढ़े दस करोड़, मध्य प्रदेश की सवा 7 करोड़, राजस्थान की 6 करोड़ 86 लाख, गुजरात की 6 करोड़, आंध्र प्रदेश की 5 करोड़, छत्तीसगढ़-हरियाणा की ढाई-ढाई करोड़ ही है।

आगे हम ये दिखाने की कोशिश करेंगे कि समाज के सबसे कमजोर तबके के रूप में प्रचारित दलितों पर होने वाले अपराधों की राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर क्या स्थिति है, और भाजपाशासित तथा अन्य राज्यों के मुकाबले उत्तर प्रदेश और बिहार की क्या स्थिति है।

एनसीआरबी की 2015 की रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक 2015 में दलितों पर हुए कुल अपराधों की संख्या 45,003 है। यह संख्या 2013 में 39,408 और 2014 में 47,064 थी।

आबादी के हिसाब से 2015 में प्रति एक लाख की दलित आबादी पर घटित अपराधों की राष्ट्रीय दर 22.3 रही, जबकि राजस्थान में यह दर 57.2, आंधप्रदेश में 52.3, गोवा में 51.1, बिहार में 38.9, मध्य प्रदेश में 36.9, ओडीशा में 32.1, छत्तीसगढ़ में 31.04, तेलंगाना में 30.9, गुजरात में 25.7, केरल में 24.7 रही। उत्तर प्रदेश में यह दर राष्ट्रीय औसत से भी कम यानी 20.2 रही।

इससे स्पष्ट होता है कि भाजपा के शासन वाले प्रदेशों में दलित अत्याचारों में बहुत बढ़ोतरी हो रही है और यह चिंता का विषय है। गोवा जैसे शांत माने जाने वाले छोटे राज्य में भी प्रति एक लाख की दलित आबादी पर अपराधों की दर 51.1 होना वाकई आँखें खोल देने वाला तथ्य है।

अब आइए, एक नजर डालते हैं दलितों के ऊपर होने वाले अपराधों की प्रकृति के विश्लेषण पर। 2015 में देश भर में दलितों की हत्या के कुल 707 मामले हुए। हत्या के अपराधों की राष्ट्रीय औसत दर रही 0.4, लेकिन मध्य प्रदेश में यह दर 0.7, राजस्थान में 0.6, झारखंड में 0.5, बिहार में 0.5, उत्तर प्रदेश में 0.5, हरियाणा में 0.4, और गुजरात में 0.4 थी। इस मामले में भी उत्तर प्रदेश की स्थिति कई ऐसे भाजपाशासित राज्यों से बेहतर रही जिसे मीडिया अपेक्षाकृत शांत प्रचारित करता रहा है।

दलितों पर होने वाले अत्याचारों में बलात्कार की घटनाओं का भी काफी बड़ा हिस्सा है। वर्ष 2015 में दलित महिलायों के बलात्कार के राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर कुल मामले 2,326 थे। इसकी राष्ट्रीय दर 1.2  रही।

राज्यों के स्तर पर देखें तो मध्य प्रदेश  में यह दर 4.1, केरल में 3.3, राजस्थान में 2.6,  छत्तीसगढ़ में 2.5,  हरियाणा में 2.1, तेलंगाना में 2.0, महाराष्ट्र में 1.8, ओडीशा में 1.8, गुजरात में 1.6, आंध्र प्रदेश में 1.2 और उत्तर प्रदेश में 1.1 रही। इन आंकड़ों से भी स्पष्ट है कि दलित महिलाओं पर बलात्कार के मामले में मध्य प्रदेश, राजस्थान, छत्तीसगढ़, हरियाणा, महाराष्ट्र और गुजरात में अपराध दर राष्ट्रीय दर से काफी अधिक रही है, जबकि उत्तर प्रदेश में इन अपराधों की दर राष्ट्रीय दर से कम रही है।

दलित महिलाओं के साथ बलात्कार की कोशिशों की बात की जाए तो  वर्ष 2015 में राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर इस तरह की घटनाएँ कुल 2,800  हुईं। इस तरह से इनकी राष्ट्रीय दर 1.4  थी। जबकि यह मध्य प्रदेश में 6.9, महाराष्ट्र में 2.7, हरियाणा में 2.1, केरल में 2.2, ओडीशा में 2.2, आंधप्रदेश और तेलंगाना में 1.8 और उत्तर प्रदेश में 1.8 रही।

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