Crimes against Dalits in India

Every 18 minutes:

A crime is committed against a Dalit

Every day:

* 3 Dalit women are raped

* 2 Dalits are murdered & 2 Dalits Houses are burnt in India

* 11 Dalits are beaten

Every week:

* 13 Dalits are murdered

* 5 Dalits home or possessions are burnt

* 6 Dalits are kidnapped or abducted

Social and Economic condition of Dalits:

* 37 percent of Dalits living below poverty in India

* More than half (54%) of their children are undernourished in India

* 83 per 1000 live birth children born in Dalit community are probability of dying before the first birthday

* 45 percent of Dalits do not know read and write in India

* Dalits women burden double discrimination (gender and caste) in India

* Only 27 percent of Dalits women give institutional deliveries in India

* About one third of Dalit households do not have basic facilities

* Public health workers refused to visit Dalit homes in 33% of villages

* Dalits were prevented from entering police station in 27.6% of villages

* Dalit children had to sit separately while eating in 37.8% of Govt. schools

* Dalits didn’t get mail delivered to their homes in 23.5% of villages

* Dalits were denied access to water sources in 48.4% of villages because of segregation & untouchabilty practices

* Half of India’s Dalit children are undernourished, 21% are severely underweight & 12% DIE before their 5th birthday

* Literacy rates for Dalit women are as low as 37.8% In Rural India

Status of Prevention of Atrocities Act:

* The conviction rate under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act is 15.71% and pendency is as high as 85.37%. This when the Act has strict provisions aimed as a deterrent. By contrast, conviction rate under IPC is over 40%

On actual crime committed against Dalits

“Even the reports prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and placed before Parliament contain merely factual information received from States about registration and disposal of cases; various administrative arrangements made for the function of the Act and funds spent, without any meaningful analysis of the performance of the States which could form the basis for making corrective interventions.” “Under-reporting of Atrocities Act cases is a very common phenomenon and therefore the decline in the number of registered  cases does not provide a true picture of the incidence of atrocities.”

“A large number of cases which deserve to be registered under Protection of Civil Rights Act or the SCs & STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are not actually registered under these Acts, either due to ignorance of law or under pressure from the interested parties. Investigations in even those limited number of cases is often earned out in a slipshod manner and with considerable delay.”

Source: National Human Rights Commission Report on the Prevention and Atrocities against Scheduled Castes

http://www.nhrc.nic.in/Publications/reportKBSaxena.pdf