Atrocities against the Scheduled Caste and Tribe abounded in almost every state that the National Human Rights Commission has visited during its nation-wide tour for open hearings and camp sittings including the one here on Wednesday.
As recounted by the Registrar of the Commission A.K. Garg on the first day of the open hearings here, the atrocities ranged from untouchability to deliberate exclusion. In 23 villages of Gujarat, people belonging to dalit communities were boycotted and forced to flee from their homes.
In villages of Tamil Nadu, separate pathways exist for forward communities and the Scheduled Caste, while in Odisha and Himachal Pradesh dalits are barred from temple entry.
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Three common complaints marked the atrocities everywhere: land of the SCs being forcibly grabbed by the upper-caste musclemen, police not being empathetic to the victims in registering the cases and government posts reserved for the SCs being left unfilled.
Mr. Garg sounded caution when he said that the complainants may turn to Maoists if their grievances were unresolved.
Chairperson of the NHRC K.G. Balakrishnan said that the main function of the Commission was to protect the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the commonman. However, it is only a recommendatory body, he noted.
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In the year 2014, 98,666 complaints were received from across the nation, to hear which the Commission is conducting camp sittings in all states. Noting that Government welfare schemes lagged in implementation, he said that the Commission was concerned about the rights of those in the periphery of the society.
Principal Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare, Raymond Peter informed the Commission that the Government was on aggressive path for implementation of welfare schemes. He cited the land purchase scheme for dalits and said that the State was the first to implement sub-plan for the SCs and STs. He also mentioned the role of self-help groups over the years in combating the atrocities against dalits.
Special Chief Secretary to Andhra Pradesh Government Lingaraj Panigrahi said that there might be certain incidents of violation of rights of weaker sections, but overall, the situation had improved.
In all, 61 cases were scheduled for the first day of the sittings, heard by Justice Balakrishnan, member-justices S.C. Sinha, D. Murugesan, and Cyriac Joseph. The hearings will continue on Thursday.