The Hindu : National : “Caste-based discrimination eclipses democracy”

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“Caste-based discrimination eclipses democracy”

Staff Reporter

Untouchability is result of State’s failure to provide equality to Dalits: Brinda

— Photo: S. James

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat addressing a meeting on `Untouchability and Implementation of Legal Provisions,’ held in Madurai on Friday.

MADURAI: The resilience of the caste system and the persistence of birth-based discrimination eclipse democracy, leaving dark shadows across the country, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has said.

She was addressing a meeting on “Untouchability and implementation of legal provisions,” organised here by the All India Democratic Women’s Association to mark the completion of 20 years of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Untouchability that jeopardised the rights, dignity and self-reliance of the Dalits was the result of the state’s failure to provide them economic and social equality, she said. They should be given land to make them equal to the landlords. She sought reservation in employment in the private sector that enjoyed the benefits of the government’s bailout. Though the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and its rules framed in 1995 marked a step forward in the struggle to do justice to the Dalits, the 20 years of experience showed deficiency in implementation. This called for amendments to the Act. Only 1 per cent of the 1.43 lakh cases registered under the Act resulted in conviction every year. This was in contrast to 40 per cent conviction in cases registered under the Indian Penal Code.

Ms. Karat flayed the “casteist bias” among a section of the police and the judiciary while dealing with crimes against the Dalits. While the police unilaterally disposed of 50 per cent of the 30,000 cases relating to crime against the Dalits without any trial in 2000, one of the judges asked how the “castiest bias” of an upper caste man involved in the rape of a Dalit woman could be proved.

Suggesting amendments to strengthen the Act, Ms. Karat called for a time limit to dispose of every case. She wanted a monitoring cell established to make the police accountable for dropping legal action in any of the cases in which the first information report was filed.

The quantum of punishment for the same offence under the provisions of the Act was lesser than that under the IPC, she said, demanding that the law dealing with special social crimes be made more stringent. The punishment for rape under the IPC was up to seven years of imprisonment, while under Section 3 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, it was only up to five years. The punishment for forcing somebody into bonded labour attracted a minimum of one year in jail, against just six months under the Act.

Despite their conversion to other religions, the Dalits were subjected to discrimination. The Act should be amended to try cases of violence against the Dalits who converted, she said. The social and economic boycott of the Dalits should be brought under the purview of the Act. An amendment was also needed to protect survivors and witnesses to offences against the Dalits, who were often subjected to pressures.

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