TOPIC: Legislative Action For Safeguard Of The

Poor And Discrimination

Mohd.Aqib
Ba.llb(Self-finanace)
Roll no.34
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION TOWARDS SAFEGUARD OF THE POOR AND

DISCRIMINATED

India's Constitution annulled "untouchability" route in 1950 by which the predominant standings
could never again legitimately force Dalits to play out any "contaminating" occupation. However
clearing, rummaging, calfskin work and other debasing exercises still remain the restraining
infrastructure of the planned positions and the individuals from such stations are debilitated with
physical manhandle and social blacklists for declining to play out the embarrassing assignments.
Movement, reservation in the administration occupations and administrations, lack of definition
of the urban condition has at times brought about upward expert portability among Dalits. Yet at
the same time the greater part keeps on staying with their customary capacities. Thinking back to
the starting points of the untouchability the idea can be followed back to the Varna framework
which existed in the old circumstances of Indian history, i.e. 600 BC-c. 600. In the old
circumstances or the Vedic period they were alluded to as 'Chandals', at that point in the
medieval period they were alluded as 'achhuta'. In the British period they were alluded as
Exterior Caste and in the present circumstances they frame the piece of Schedule Caste or
'Dalits'.

As indicated by the Varna framework the general population were arranged according to their
occupation. To comprehend the same, a flowchart is given underneath. The term 'Harijans' was
attributed to the lower rank by Mahatma Gandhi in his reorganization practice to cancel the idea
of 'untouchability'.

Dalits the nation over who represent approximately 1/5th of the populace keep on suffering birth-
based segregation and mortification. They speak to a group of 170 million in India, constituting
17% of the populace. One out of each six Indians is Dalit, yet because of their standing
personality they consistently confront segregation and brutality which keep them from getting a
charge out of the essential human rights and respect guaranteed to all subjects of India. In spite
of the fact that there can be no legitimate definition in the matter of what is untouchability or
who are distinguished as untouchables yet this can be addressed in light of the practices that are
completed by the upper standing individuals. Likewise the act of untouchability is contrasted
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with the act of Apartheid. Both the practices are comparable in nature and the monstrosities were
done the predominant class on the oppress class of individuals. In spite of the fact that the last
has been effectively canceled through different changes and activities and the time has come to
annul the act of 'Untouchability' in the period where Human Rights are having pre strength over
the Fundamental Rights given by the state.

There are more than 90 ways in which ‘untouchability’ is practiced. Though the notions of
practice had changed from the ancient times to the present still many of the forms in which the
practice is carried out is heinous and unacceptable to the human nature and are against the human
rights. Manual scavenging is one such form of practice but to list others are- the Dalits reside
outside the village area, prohibition from entering into temples, expected to sit separately and
others. A study conducted by Action Aid in 2001-2002, in 565 villages of 11 states (Punjab,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu), shows that:

 In 73% of the villages, dalits cannot enter non-dalit homes.

 In 70% of the villages, dalits cannot eat with non-dalits.
 In 64% of the villages, dalits cannot enter common temples.
 In 53% of the villages, dalit women suffer ill-treatment at the hands of non-dalit women.

There are numerous different manners by which the acts are carried out; these are only the real
ways which we see on regular schedule. Aside from this we can likewise classify this segregation
into handicaps which are looked by the Dalits. These can be arranged into social inabilities
which incorporate instruction handicap, bring down social incapacity, inability identifying with
social propensities; financial incapacities like no privilege to property, no privilege to pick
occupation and in conclusion religious handicaps.

In spite of the fact that by offering reservation to the Dalits and the Schedule Caste and clans, the
administration had attempted to manage the issue of untouchability as it gives them financial
offices, work openings which prompt their upliftment in their way of life. In any case, aside from
social mindfulness is one of the noteworthy criteria for starting changes and changes, rather in
the abrogation of 'untouchability'.
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THE PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1955

THE PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1955 is an Act to prescribe punishment for the
preaching and practice of “untouchability” for the enforcement of any disability arising there
from and for matters connected therewith.
• Article 17: "Untouchability" is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.

To give effect to this Article, Parliament made an enactment viz., Untouchability (Offences) Act,
1955. To make the provisions of this Act more stringent, the Act was amended in 1976 and was
also renamed as the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.

PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1955

The following Acts are punishable under Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955-:

1. Disability to practice Religion-:

Anyone who stops any person on ground of Untouchability in any of the following ways:

I. To enter into the place of worship where any other person of the same religion is allowed
II. To worship, to offer prayers or to perform any religious ceremony or offer any religious
service or bath at worship place or to use water from the sacred tank, spring well or from
any other source, in the same manner as any other person of same religion is allowed to
do.

Punishment -: Such person shall be punished with the imprisonment for the term of atleast one
month but not exceeding 6 months along with the fine of atleast 100 Rs. but not more than Rs.
500.

2. Social Disabilities

Whoever discriminates any person on the ground of Untouchability in any way such as
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1. Access to shop, hotel, restaurant, place of public entertainment ;

2. Use of utensil which are provided in the hotels, dharamshala or any other public place for
the use of general public or for a specific class of people;
3. To practice any profession or carry out any of th e occupation, business or trade;
4. The use of water from spring well, tank, river, stream, water taps or any water place, or
stops using bathing ghat, sanitary convenience, burial or cremation ground, road, passage
or other thing meant for general public.

Punishment -:

Such person shall be punished with the imprisonment for the term of at least one month but not
exceeding 6 months along with the fine of at least 100 Rs. but not more than Rs. 500.

3. Refusing Admission -: Whoever on the ground of Untouchability denies a person admission

or discriminates the person after admission in the following places:

i. Hospital
ii. Educational Institution
iii. Hostel

Which are meant for the use and access to general public.

Punishment -: Such person

i. Shall be punished with the imprisonment for the term of atleast one month but not exceeding 6
months along with the fine of atleast 100 Rs. but not more than Rs. 500.

ii. Such person shall also not be entitled with the grants given by the Government and shall be
suspended from that service as the Court may deem fit.

4. Refusing to sell goods or render service -: Whoever on the ground of Untouchability refuses
or discriminates a person in selling goods or in rendering services with the same terms and
conditions in which they rendered to the general public in the ordinary course of business.
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Punishment -: Such person

i. Shall be punished with the imprisonment for the term of atleast one month but not exceeding 6
months along with the fine of atleast 100 Rs. but not more than Rs. 500.

ii. Also the License of such person shall be cancelled for the time as the Court may deem fit.

5. Compulsory Labour -: Whoever compels any person to Sweep, scavenge, or to remove any
carcass or to flay any animal or to remove the umbilical cord or to do any other job of a similar
nature.

Punishment -: Such person shall be deemed to have practice “Untouchability” and shall be
punished with the imprisonment for the term of atleast three months but not exceeding 6 months
along with the fine of atleast 100 Rs. but not more than Rs. 500.

6. Other Offences -:

1. Such person shall be punishable under law who does any of the following:

a. Prevents any person from acquiring rights provided under Art 17 of the
Constitution of India; or,
b. Molests, insults, boycotts30 or create an obstruction in exercising the right; or
c. Molests, insults, boycotts any person who has exercised his rights; or
d. By any manner, spoken or written encourages or incites31 any person to practice
“Untouchability”; or
e. Insults or attempts to insult any person on the ground of “Untouchability”

2. The person

a) Who on the ground of “Untouchability” denies any person the rights and privileges available
to that person being a part of that community; or,

b) Who excommunicates with the person who has denied practicing “Untouchability”.
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Punishment -: Such person shall be punished with the imprisonment for the term of atleast one
month but not exceeding 6 months along with the fine of atleast 100 Rs. but not more than Rs.
500.

THE SCHEDULED CASTE AND SCHEDULED TRIBE (PREVENTION OF

ATROCITIES) ACT, 1989

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is an Act of the Parliament
of India enacted to prevent atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is
popularly known as POA, the SC/ST Act, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or simply the
Atrocities Act.
Article 17 of Indian Constitution looks to abrogate 'untouchability' and to preclude every single
such practice. It is essentially an "statement of principle" that should be made operational with
the apparent goal to expel embarrassment and multifaceted disturbances allotted to the Dalits and
to guarantee their basic and financial, political, and social rights.

This is to free Indian culture from visually impaired and silly adherence to customary
convictions and to build up a predisposition free society. For that, Untouchability (Offenses) Act
1955 was sanctioned. In any case, lacunae and provisos affected the administration to extend a
noteworthy upgrade of this lawful instrument. From 1976 onwards the Act was redone as the
Protection of Civil Rights Act. In spite of different measures received to enhance the financial
states of the SCs and STs they stay helpless and are liable to different offenses, outrages and
embarrassments and provocation. When they affirm their rights and against the act of
Untouchability against them the personal stake attempt to dairy animals them down and threaten
them. Outrages against the SCs STs, still proceeded.
The normal provisions of the existing laws like, the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and
Indian Penal Code have been found inadequate to check these atrocities continuing the gross
indignities and offences against Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Recognizing these, the Parliament
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passed ‘Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act’, 1989 & Rules,
1995.

The SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 with stringent arrangements (which
reaches out to entire of India aside from the State of Jammu and Kasmhir) was authorized on 9
September 1989. Segment 23(1) of the Act approves the Central Government to outline
precludes for conveying the motivation behind the Act. Drawing power from this segment, the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules of 1995 were
framed. The standards for the Act were informed on 31 March 1995.

What does this law do?

This law does three things:
 It punishes offences committed against people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
 It gives unique and special protections and rights to victims.
 It arranges courts for fast completion of cases.

What sorts of crimes are punished?

 Some crimes under the IPC are given increased punishments under this law.
 Cruel and degrading crimes that occur very often against SC/ST communities, such as
forcing them to eat cowdung, boycotting them socially etc. More than 20 such acts are
punished under this law.

Objectives:

The objectives of the Act, therefore, very clearly emphasise the intention of the Indian state to
deliver justice to SC/ST communities through affirmative action in order to enable them to live
in society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear, violence or suppression from the
dominant castes.1

1
NHRC, Report on Prevention of Atrocities against SCs, New Delhi, 2004, pp.14-15.
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The Supreme Court of India too reiterated the significance and importance of the Act: 2

“The offences of atrocities are committed to humiliate and subjugate the SCs and STs with a
view to keep them in a state of servitude. Hence, they constitute a separate class of offences and
cannot be compared with offences under the Indian Penal Code.”

Together with the principles, it gives a structure to checking the state reaction to the
abominations against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. As indicated by the Act and
Rules, there are to be month to month reports (from the District Magistrates), quarterly survey
gatherings at the locale level by the District Monitoring and Vigilance Committee (DVMC) and
half yearly audits by a 25-part State Monitoring and Vigilance Committee (SVMC) the led by
the Chief Minister. The execution of each Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) will likewise must be
inspected by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) each quarter. Yearly reports must be sent
to the focal government by 31 March each year.

The Act and Rules are a potent mechanism and precision instruments that can be utilized as a
part of couple with the Right To Information (RTI) Act 2005 to inspire the state to hold the
required gatherings and uphold consistence. A Human Rights Defenders Monitoring Calendar
has been created from the Act and standards to help human rights safeguards, and others to clear
up the capacities and obligations of the observing experts (the SVMC and DVMC).

The term 'atrocity' was not defined until this Act was passed by the Parliament in 1989. In legal
parlance, the Act understands the term to mean an offence punishable under sections 3(1) and
3(2).

In specific terms:

1. Atrocity is “an expression commonly used to refer to crimes against Scheduled Castes
(SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India”.

2. It “denotes the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane, whereas the term 'crime'
relates to an act punishable by law”.3

2
State of Madhya Pradesh and Anr vs. Ram Krishna Balothia and Anr (1995) (2) SCC 221
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3. It implies “any offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) committed against SCs by
non-SC persons, or against STs by non-ST persons. Caste consideration as a motive is not
necessary to make such an offence in case of atrocity”.4

4. It signifies “crimes which have ingredients of infliction of suffering in one form or the
other that should be included for reporting”. This is based on the assumption that “where
the victims of crime are members of Scheduled Castes and the offenders do not belong to
Scheduled Castes caste considerations are really the root cause of the crime, even though
caste considerations may not be the vivid and minimum motive for the crime”.

For expedient trial, Section 14 of the Act accommodates a Court of Session to be a Special Court
to attempt offenses under this Act in each region. Rule 13(i) commands that the judge in an
uncommon court be delicate with right bent and comprehension of the issues of the SCs and STs.

Nonetheless, that is from time to time the case. Most states have proclaimed a court as a 'special
court'. The hitch is that they are assigned courts (instead of select exceptional courts) thus need
to hear numerous different cases as well. Therefore, whenever around 80% of the cases are
pending—invalidating the very point of having exceptional courts in any case.

Exceptional Court Justice Ramaswamy saw on account of State of Karnataka v. Ingale5 that
more than seventy-five percent of the cases brought under the SC/ST Act end in quittance at all
levels. The circumstance has not enhanced much since 1992 as indicated by the figures given by
the 2002 Annual Report managing SC/ST Act (of the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment)6 Of the aggregate cases recorded in 2002 just 21.72% were discarded, and, of
those, a simple 2.31% finished in conviction. The quantity of quittances is 6 times more than the
quantity of feelings and in excess of 70 percent of the cases are as yet pending.

3
Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of SCs & STs, 4th Report 2004-05,New Delhi, 2005, para 1.1
4
Clarification by Ministry of Home Affairs, noted in NHRC, Report on Prevention of Atrocities against SCs, New
Delhi, 2002, p.28.
5
(1992) 3 S.C.R. 284
6
Annual Report on The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for the
Year 2002, at p.12.
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Drawbacks and lacunae :

Bias

 Experiencing the Indian legal framework is debasing for any Dalit in light of the as yet
existing inclinations of the court judges.
 Likewise, there is minimal done to counteract monstrosities. A large portion of the
reports are of what is done after an abomination has been conferred. Barely any states
have preventive measures set up.
 High rate of dismissal is likewise common at the police headquarters level.

SC and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill 2014:

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on fourth August, 2015 with the accompanying key
highlights –

 Expansion of new class of offenses to the current 19 culpable offenses.

 Addition of IPC offenses committed which are normal (kidnapping, intimidation and so
forth) notwithstanding the offenses pulling in discipline of 10 years or more dedicated
against Dalits or Adivasis are added to the culpable offenses under the POA Act.
 Foundation of Exclusive Special Courts and Special Public Prosecutors to only try the
offenses falling under the POA Act to empower quick and speedy transfer of cases.
 Power of Exclusive Courts to take insight of offense and culmination of trial in 2 months.
 Expansion of section on the 'Rights of Victims and Witnesses'.
 Characterizing plainly the term 'wilful negligence’ of open hirelings at all levels,
beginning from the registration of grievance, and covering parts of dereliction of
obligation under this Act.
 Addition of presumption to the offenses. In the event that the denounced was familiar
with the casualty or his family, the court will assume that the blamed knew for the
position or inborn personality of the casualty unless demonstrated generally.
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The present situation:

In a new judgment the Supreme Court has ruled that public servants cannot be prosecuted
without the approval of the appointing authority and citizens too should be arrested only after an
inquiry under the law. This has led to widespread protests across five states and cost 11 lives.
The government filed the review petition in the matter. However, turning down the government's
appeal to freeze the earlier verdict, the top court said today, "Our aim is to protect innocents, we
have not diluted the law in any manner."

The judgment gives no conspicuousness to caste atrocities and disregards untouchability, which
is as yet common. The mischief that Parliament needed to address too was overlooked by the
court. In the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Prevention of Atrocities Act, Parliament
had unmistakably noticed that when Dalits affirm their rights, personal stakes endeavor to
threaten them. Accordingly, keeping in view the special nature of crimes against Dalits,
anticipatory bail had been excluded.

In any case, as for the case in hand, Section 22 of the SC/ST Act already protects public servants
from prosecution if they acted in ‘good faith’. But now even a First Information Report is not to
be registered without preliminary inquiry. Moreover, even after the registration of FIR, the
accused cannot be arrested without written approval of the appointing authority. No FIR can be
registered against anybody without permission of the senior superintendent of police.

The judgment will have a chilling effect on the already underreported crimes against Dalits. The
government must go for a review.