Fewer cases under Atrocities Act as Marathas, Dalits stand divided
At a time when Maharashtra’s Maratha community and the state’s Dalits stand divided over the Atrocities Act, official statistics tell a story of how the use of the 25-year-old contentious legislation, introduced to redress caste-related exploitation, itself has been on the decline in the state. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Maharashtra has reduced to 2,206 in 2014 from 4,756 recorded in 2010.
While the numbers may indicate a simple drop in incidents, Dalit activists see them with a subscript. The numbers have declined as a majority of cases are increasingly going unrecorded given the muscle power of the accused, their pull in the administrative system and a fear of social boycott, they say. “In a hundred incidents of atrocities, barely five or six get registered as cases,” said advocate Keval Uke, general secretary of the National Dalit Movement for Justice.
One of the main demands made by the Maratha community in the ongoing silent protest matches across the state is a review and amendment of the Atrocities Act. Their contention is that the legislation is often misused. Uke questions this agenda, saying, “The Act is currently barely being used. How will it be misused? We understand that there is an unwritten missive to the police to minimise the number of crimes registered, and refrain from recording cases under the Atrocities Act.” The Atrocities Act was not applied even for the heinous Khailanji massacre of September 2006, when women belonging to the Bhotmange family of Dalits were paraded naked and eventually killed with two boys by members of a politically dominant community in Bhandara district yelling caste slurs.
This is also why the BJP-led government cannot consider a review of this legislation. Besides, standing on thin ground vis-à-vis statistics and facts, any such move will alienate Dalits not just in the state but across the country.
Ashok Tangade, a Beed-based social activist, said, “Atrocities are never against a rich, educated Dalit. It is the weak, poor and uneducated who is oppressed by persons getting to demonstrate their power and political might through such acts. They have influence over the investigating officers to give a favourable report. The victim is easily swayed.”