The State government should come out with a status paper during the budget session of the Assembly on the implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act over the past decade.
This demand was put forward by the jury, which comprised advocates, activists and artists, after hearing the victims in 36 cases from 11 districts of the State, narrating the atrocities on them by various sections of the society at the peoples' public hearing held last week. Of the victims who deposed before the jury, 23 cases were from the Scheduled Castes and 13 from the Schedule Tribes. In 17 per cent of the cases, women were the victims.
In about 30 per cent of the cases where the complaint was filed, no FIR was filed and in 70 per cent of the cases the accused had not been arrested. In 50 per cent, the cases were not registered under SC&ST (POA) Act, said Ossie Fernandes, director, Human Rights Foundation and one of the organisers of the public hearing.