Atrocities against Dalits rising in UP: Punia

National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) today said that that cases of atrocities against Dalits are on the rise in Uttar Pradesh during the tenure of the present state government as compared to the last regime.
Addressing reporters here, NCSC Chairman P L Punia said, at present several cases of Dalits are pending for a long time and their speedy disposal does not seem to be a priority of the state government.
Punia today held a meeting to take stock of the atrocities cases in Kanpur division which was attended by senior administrative and police officials of Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, Auraiya, Etah, Farrukhabad and Kannauj districts.

"During the tenure of the present government there is no dearth in cases of atrocities against Dalits, but there is an rise in such cases," he said, adding, this is because preventing Dalit atrocities is not the priority of the government.
When asked whether atrocities against Dalits have increased in UP during the tenure of present government as compared to the tenure of last BSP government, he said, "Yes the crimes against Dalits have increased and several such cases are pending."
"One reason for this can be the fact that cases of Dalit atrocities are now registered in police stations. The chief of last BSP government was a dalit just by name but issues concerning Dalit were not priority for the last government," he claimed.

"Incidences of rapes, atrocities against Dalit used to take place regularly when the BSP government was in power, but the government did not pay attention towards such incidences," he alleged.

According to Punia, he is visiting all 18 divisions in the state after which he will meet UP CM Akhilesh Yadav to appraise him about the issue.
Punia said, prior to this he has reviewed the situation in Punjab, Kerala and Changigarh.
During the review, he said, the matters which are pending for last 2 years are being cleared.
He has instructed all District Magistrates and SSPs to appoint an officer of SDM rank for speedy disposal of cases of Dalit atrocities and asked them to deal with such cases more seriously and with priority.

According to him, all SSP's have been asked to instruct the SHOs to immediately register FIR in such cases and asked them to take action against the errant officers.
Punia said that 38 out of 66 cases were disposed from Kanpur city, 15 out of 20 cases were disposed from Kanpur Dehat, 13 out of 20 cases were disposed from Auraiya, 2 out of 4 cases were resolved from Farrukhabad and 6 out of 8 cases were settled from Kannauj.