Dalit agitation forces Gujarat govt to set up atrocity courts

The Gujarat government on Thursday announced setting up of special courts in 16 districts of the state to exclusively handle cases of atrocities on dalits. The Courts shall become functional from October 1, a notification issued by the state government stated.

Pradipsinh Jadeja, minister of state for Home said here Thursday that government pleaders would be there to extend help to the victims. ”This is being done to respect the sentiments of the dalit community which has been demanding such courts”, the minister added.

The decision comes in the backdrop of the long festering dalit stir which was kicked off by the lynching of four dalit youth in a village near Una town of Somnath district in Saurashtra region of Gujarat in July. The four dalits were skinning a dead cow which had been killed by a lion. The incident took place on july11, and the videos of the youth being flogged through the streets had gone viral on social media leading to a public outcry and protests. The community has been on the warpath ever since and even stopped lifting of animal carcasses in the state. Gujarat has chosen to follow in the footsteps of neighbouring Rajasthan where 25 of the 33 districts have such special courts and the conviction rate is at around 45 per cent.

According to the Gujarat Crime Records Bureau there have been 14500 cases of attacks on dalits since 2001 and the conviction rate is reported to be abysmally low, between 3 to 5 per cent. As per the break up, this works out to an annual figure of 1000 cases or about three per day.

Fire brand dalit leader Jignesh Mewani termed the government decision as a moral victory of their stir. “The atrocities Act was enacted in Gujarat in the eighties and yet both the Congress and the BJP who ruled the state thereafter never bothered to set up these courts which should flow as a logical corollary. Thousands of dalits suffered atrocities in the intervening period before they decided to take matters into their own hands forcing the government to heed their demand”.