SC/ST Act: SC ruling to have bad effect on reporting crimes against Dalits

The BJP government has no option but to support a review of the March 20 judgement lest it turns into a political hot potato ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

A crime is committed against a Dalit every 15 minutes. Six Dalit women are raped every day. Over the last ten years (2007-2017), there has been a 66% growth in crimes against Dalits. Further, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on which the Supreme Court’s March 20 judgment is based itself shows that rapes of Dalit women have doubled in the last ten years. NCRB data also says that chargesheets were filed in as many 78% cases, which means the argument that false cases are being filed out of ‘vengeance’ is flawed.

Though shocking, these figures are only the