Scheduled Castes/ Tribes: crimes against, and prevention of

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Misuse of SC/ST Act

From the archives of The Times of India 2010

Misuse of SC/ST Act annoys court

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Expressing concern over rising incidents of the misuse of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to settle personal scores, a trial court has told police the final report in such cases should be examined at a higher level before they are filed. The court’s observations came while discharging nine members of a family, including five women, from charges under the Act for allegedly using abusive words against their tenants, who belonged to the SC category.

‘‘Unfortunately, one comes across growing instances where the provisions of this Act have not so much been invoked for the betterment of those whom it seeks to protect than by those who want to settle personal scores by giving to an otherwise ordinary dispute the colour of an alleged atrocity under the Act,’’ additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said. The court observed that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, meant to protect the lot of the exploited sections, should not be allowed to be misused.

In this case, the court noted that complainant Kanaklata (30), a postgraduate in philosophy from Delhi University, had changed her statement before the police on May 4, 2008 and invoked the provisions of the SC/ST Act against the family members of her landlord after talking to her lawyer. ‘‘I find that the present case is a glaring example of abuse of a special legislation with stringent provisions which has been enacted to ameliorate the lot of the hitherto, underprivileged, deprived and marginalized section of the society,’’ ASJ Lau said.

The court said Kanaklata had spared no one as she had in her improved version of the complaint roped in the entire family of Om Prakash Grover, a senior citizen. She further implicated the brother of the landlord Ved Prakash, his wife and his daughterin-law who did not even reside in the same house and are residents of another property in Mukherjee Nagar, it added.

The court also pulled up the police for failing to properly conduct the probe. ‘‘Though the investigations have been conducted by an assistant commissioner of police, it is rather unfortunate that he allowed himself to play into the hands of the complainant rather than independently examine the material before him in an unbiased manner and strictly enforce the provisions of law,’’ it said. The court recommended that before any final report in the case of SC/ST Act was filed, it is monitored and examined at a higher level.

Non-invasive sexual harassment: medical examination

The Times of India, May 09 2016

No med test for SCST survivors of non-invasive sexual crimes

 The government has scrapped an over 20-yearold provision of conducting medical examination in cases of non-invasive sexual harassment like gestures or acts intended to outrage the modesty of women and stalking against SC and ST survivors to enable them get quicker relief.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Rules, 2016, notified recently, also has a provision of increased relief to survivors ranging from Rs 85,000 to Rs 8.25 lakh from the earlier Rs 75,000-7.5 lakh.

Earlier 50% of the amount was paid after medical exami nation and the remaining sum at the conclusion of the trial, according to a senior official from the ministry of social justice and empowerment. “The new Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 which came into force on January 26, included a series of new offences following which the rules had to be modified.Under the new rules, separate provision of relief for offences of rape and gang-rape were introduced,“ the official said.

“These offences fall under the category of invasive offences. Offences like assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty , use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking -which fall under non-invasive category -have also been specifically mentioned.Now, in cases of non-invasive offences, we have done away with the medical examination part,“ the official added.