Atrocities on dalits: NCSC unhappy over police inaction
LUCKNOW:: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has expressed concern over the inaction of the state police in cases related to atrocities on Dalits and the inability of the government departments to use funds allocated for Dalit welfare.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, chairman of the commission Ramashankar Katheria said the Commission had shot off a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath drawing his attention toward the failure of the state government departments to utilize R4,732 crore released by the centre and state governments for the welfare of the Dalit community.
The 10 state government departments were big defaulters in fund utilization, Katheria said adding, while the Rural Development department failed to utilize
DURING INVESTIGATION, THE COMMISSION FOUND THAT EVEN IN CASES WHERE THE POLICE FILED FIR THE VICTIMS FAILED TO GET JUSTICE.
R1,166 crore, Basic Education Department could not use R670 crore, Electricity department R337 crore and PWD R1,354 crore.
The Commission had directed chief secretary Rajive Kumar to expedite fund utilization and ensure that funds allocated for the Dalit welfare were not diverted to other schemes, he said adding a large number of Dalit villages in the state did not have power connection.
Blaming the bureaucrats for the delay, Katheria said majority of the departments had not prepared a work plan and officers were even not aware of the schemes launched by the central and state governments for the welfare of the scheduled castes. The state government should take strict action against the errant officers, he said.
Expressing anguish over the failure of the police to take action in cases of heinous crime against the Dalit community, Katheria, who is a BJP MP from Agra Lok Sabha seat, said the police had failed to file chargesheet in murder and rape cases even after 60 days. “In fact, the perpetrators filed cross cases against the victims, who were forced to withdraw cases,” he said.
During investigation, the commission found that even in cases where the police filed FIR the victims failed to get justice.
He said in 2016 large number of Dalit children were deprived of scholarship due to delay in the release of the funds. This year the state government had released the scholarship fund.