Sc St Act

1. Sc-St Act

2. The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to prohibit discrimination, prevent atrocities and hate crimes against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is popularly known as the SC Act And ST Act, POA, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or simply the Atrocities Act. It was enacted when the provisions of the existing laws (such as the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and Indian Penal Code) were found to be inadequate to check these crimes (defined as ‘atrocities’ in the Act). Recognizing the continuing gross indignities and offenses against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Parliament passed the ‘Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

3. Thus objectives of the Act clearly emphasised the intention of the government to deliver justice to these communities through proactive efforts to enable them to live in a society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear or violence or suppression from the dominant castes. The practice of untouchability, in its overt and covert form was made a cognizable and non-compoundable offence, and strict punishment is provided for any such offence. The SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 with stringent provisions was enacted on 9 September 1989. Section 23(1) of the Act authorises the Central Government to frame rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act. Drawing power from this section, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules of 1995 were framed.[2] The rules for the Act were notified on 31 March 1995.

4. The purpose of the Act was to help the social inclusion of Dalits into Indian society, but the Act has failed to live up to its expectations admitted by the Union Minister for Home Affairs in parliament on 30 August 2010 (quoted below) A number of cases of misuse of this Act has been reported from different parts of the country as mentioned in the Supreme Court verdict of 20 March 2018. In this verdict, the Supreme Court of India banned immediate arrest of a person accused of insulting or injuring a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe member to protect innocents from arbitrary arrest.

5. Objectives of SC-ST Act • To improve the socio-economic conditions of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. • To curb offences related to ill — behavior against SCs and STs that break down their self-esteem. • To curb denial of economic, democratic, and social rights. • To protect them from a social disability like — denial of access to certain places, personal atrocities like — forceful drinking, eating inedible food, injury, sexual exploitation, etc. • To help them remain devoid of malicious prosecution, economic exploitation, and political disabilities. • To deliver justice through proactive efforts, giving them a dignified life and eradicate suppression from the dominant castes.

6. What is ‘Atrocity’? Atrocity is an expression commonly used to refer to the crimes against SC & ST Act members in India. It denotes the quality of being shockingly inhumane and cruel. However, the term ‘crime’ relates to an act punishable by law. It also signifies the crimes that have ingredients of suffering in one or other form.

7. Punishments for the given offences that come under ‘Atrocity’ Force SC/ST communities members to drink or eat inedible or obnoxious substances. Dump sewage, excreta, or other obnoxious substance at the premises of SC/ST communities members. Force a member of SC/ST members to remove clothes from the person, remove moustaches or paint face/body. Wrongfully occupy or possess land or get such land transferred. Get the person of such a community parade naked or semi-naked.