Poor conviction rate under SC-ST Act worries Minister

These issues have to be dealt with seriously: Mukul Wasnik

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Mukul Wasnik, on Tuesday voiced concern over the poor rate of conviction under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, in Tamil Nadu between 2008 and 2010.

The conviction rate of just 17.4 per cent was a matter of concern, he said after chairing a meeting of the committee to review the implementation of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and SC/ST (PoA) Act, 1989 at the Secretariat.

He said that the cases brought forward and reported in 2010 under the SC/ST (PoA) Act was 3,641, of which 767 cases were disposed of by courts.

The conviction rate was 24.6 per cent and pendency, 78.1 per cent. “These issues have to be dealt with seriously.”

According to the Minister’s agenda notes, the State government has not furnished progress reports for January–December 2011. Under the PCR Act, the conviction rate was 21 per cent and 34 per cent cases remained pending in courts.

The State-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, has to meet at least once in six months to review cases under the Act.

The committee met last on November 3, 2010. The Union Ministry had no information about the conduct of the meetings afterwards, the agenda note revealed.

A status report on the implementation of the two Acts in the State prepared by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department revealed that in 2011, 376 cases were under police investigation, 2,885 pending in courts and 1,355 cases reported under the PoA Act.

Till the end of May 2012, 600 were cases were under investigation, 3,042 cases remained in courts and 614 cases were reported. According to the status report, 3,725 cases were pending in courts and 628 under investigation. In 2011, 43 cases ended in conviction and 517 in acquittal.

In 2012, conviction was obtained only in five cases and acquittal recorded in 152 cases. The police closed 414 cases in 2011 and 196 cases in 2012, said the report, a copy of which is available with The Hindu .

The Union Minister said Tamil Nadu had not found even a single officer who wilfully neglected his duty for penalty or prosecution under Section (4) of the Act in the past 22 years.

Likewise, it had not removed a single special public prosecutor found wanting in effectively presenting the prosecution in these 22 years.