By Shafeeq Hudawi, Twocircles.net
Kozhikode: If statistics from National Crime Records Bureau are taken into consideration, it becomes clear Kerala has been on a steady decline in terms of preventing atrocities against the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes in the state.
A query by one of the media persons in the state, in the wake of the brutal murder of Dalit woman Jisha at Perumbavoor in Eranakulam, revealed that according to the figures with NCRB, 951 cases of crimes against Dalits were recorded in 2014. These include murder, rape, kidnapping and abduction, robbery and arson. The crime rate against SC and ST in Kerala stood at 27.3 while the national crime rate was 17.2. In 2013, a total of 891 crimes were reported while the cases were 934 in 2012. These include IPC crimes in congruence with the SC/ST (PoA) Act, IPC crimes without SC/ST (PoA) Act, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act and other SLL crimes against SCs.
Dalit activists say that the lot of cases go unrecorded owing to various facts. According to them, a few of the suspects get convicted as most of the cases will not reach the courts.
However, what is bewildering is that if one were to check state records, it paints a completely different picture. State Crime Control Bureau statistics show that only 550 cases were registered under SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act- 2015 during 2008 and 2015, with last year showing the worst figures with 89 cases.