The Supreme Court has recently noted that there have been instances of abuse of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 by vested interests. In its judgment, the court directed that arrest of a public servant in cases of crimes reported under this Act can only be after approval of the appointing authority and in case of a non-public servant, the arrest can be made only after the approval by the SSP which may be granted in appropriate cases if it is considered necessary.
The court also made it clear that such grant of arrest must be accompanied by recorded reasons.
Pendency of Cases Increasing Each Year
As per data released by the NCRB, the number of cases of crime against SCs pending for trial increased from 85,264 at the end of the year 2006 to 1,29,831 at the end of year 2016, an increase of over 50 percent in 10 years. The number of cases of crime against SCs pending trial crossed one lakh in 2014.
In the case of crimes against STs, the number of cases pending trial increased from 15,956 at the end of 2006 to 20,386 at the end of 2016, an increase of 28 percent. The number of cases pending for trial decreased substantially from 2015 to 2016.
The number of cases disposed by courts in case of crimes against SCs has decreased substantially in the last four years. An average of 21,000 cases were disposed per year by courts from the year 2006 till 2011. Since 2012, the average is down to 17,000 cases per year. In 2016, a mere 14,615 cases were disposed, leading to enormous increase in the number of pending cases for trial.
In the case of crimes against STs, about 3,900 cases were disposed on average per year since 2006. There has not been a substantial decrease in the number of cases disposed except for the 2016 when only 2,895 cases were disposed by courts.
Are Conviction Rates Comparable to Other Crimes?
The average conviction rate in the case of crimes against SCs is around 29 percent since 2006. In the case of crimes against STs, it is around 26 percent. Though these conviction rates are less than the overall conviction rate of all IPC crimes, they are more than the conviction rate in many other IPC crimes.
For instance, the conviction rates are higher in the case of crimes against SCs/STs compared to the conviction rate in 498-A cases. In fact, in the case of crimes against SCs/STs, the conviction rate on average is more than the conviction rate in 11 other IPC crimes since 2006.
While the Supreme Court has noted certain cases of misuse of the PoA Act, speedy disposal of cases might result in better conviction rates and ensuring timely justice to both parties.
(This story was first published on Factly and has been republished here with permission)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)