7.1 |
Introductory
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7.1.1 |
There
have been plenty of studies of Dalits.
What the Dalits now want is a blue
print of action and based on it
substantive action to completely
change their economic and social
conditions and their living and
working conditions and ensuring
real Equal Opportunity for them
and their children. |
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7.1.2 |
The road map for this has to be
based on a Vision --- the vision
of economic liberation, educational
parity and social and personal dignity
for Dalits, laying the foundation
of an integrated egalitarian society.
Such a road map of action and action
points has been drawn and made available
to different political Parties and
Governments, and placed in the public
domain by the “Dalit Manifesto
(DM), Incorporating the Rights and
Entitlements of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes”
on 7.3.1996; Memorandum of the Parliamentary
Forum of SC and ST MPs dated 17.12.1996
to the P.M. (and repeatedly presented
subsequently to successive PMs);
Recommendations of the “Drafting
Committee” of All-Party SC
and ST Leaders prepared at the end
of the Government-organized Convention
of 5-7.12.1999; White Paper of the
First National Convention of the
SC and ST Forum of the Indian National
Congress (20.1.2000) and the expanded
White Paper (30.1.2000) based on
the discussions at that National
Convention; the Bhopal Declaration
(12-13.1.2002); and Chapter –
10 of the Report of the National
Commission for Review of the Working
of the Constitution (2000-2002)
read with its Background Note; all
wholly or substantially covering
the same ground as the DM, and the
Himalaya Proclamation 17.04.2006
subsuming the points contained in
the foregoing. Recently a sub-group
of the Committee of Minister on
Dalit affairs the entire issue and
made its recommendations to the
Committee. As many of these documents
as possible are being enclosed as
Annexures hereto for wide public
information. |
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7.1.3. |
Benefiting
by all these efforts and documents,
the following are some of the major
lines of action required. |
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7.2 |
Right
to Life and Protection from Atrocities |
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7.2.1 |
Right
to Life under Article 21 of the
Constitution is the most basic of
all rights. Even this, in the elementary
literal sense, has not been made
a reality for Dalits. This will
require not only legal measures
but also economic measures and educational
action described in an earlier section.
So far as legal measures are concerned,
the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act needs to be strengthened and
its thorough implementation has
to be taken seriously by the Central
and State Governments. The following
specific steps are required for
this purpose. |
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7.2.1.1 |
An
exclusive Special Court of Session
should be established in each district,
in keeping with the spirit and purpose
of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act 1989 (P.O.A. Act) and, in particular
of Section 14 thereof, which has
not been implemented by any State
and has been marginally implemented
by two or three States; |
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7.2.1.2 |
These exclusive Special Courts of
session should try only cases of
Atrocities against Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes and should
try these cases on day-to-day basis,
and should not be entrusted with
any other cases; |
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| 7.2.1.3 |
Special
Investigation Officers and Special
Public Prosecutors should be appointed
exclusively for the investigation
and prosecution of cases of Atrocities
against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes and they should not be entrusted
with any other work; |
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| 7.2.1.4 |
The
judges of these Courts of Session
and the Special Investigation Officers
and Special Prosecuting officers
should be appointed from panels
prepared on the basis of their record
of and reputation for upholding
the Rights of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes especially their
Right to Protection from violence; |
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| 7.2.1.5 |
These
posts should never be kept vacant; |
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| 7.2.1.6 |
These judges and, investigating
and prosecuting officers should
be provided with adequate supporting
staff and facilities, which should
not be less than what is provided
for officers of similar rank in
the “mainstream” posts
in their respective departments/set-ups;
and they should not be prevented
from functioning optimally by being
starved or partly starved of the
supporting staff and facilities
required for the efficient discharge
of the functions; |
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7.2.2 |
The
following amendments should be carried
out in the POA Act, in the very
next Session of the Parliament.
But the measures at (1) to (6) above
can and should be implemented without
waiting for the amendments: |
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| 7.2.2.1 |
Section 14 should be amended as
follows: |
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“Special
Court – (1) For the
purpose of providing for speedy
trial, the State Government shall,
with the concurrence of the Chief
Justice of the High Court, by notification
in the official gazette, establish
in each district, a Court of Session
to be Special Court exclusively
to try the offences under this Act. |
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Provided
that in respect of districts where
there are no atrocities against
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
at all, the Government may, with
the concurrence of the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes
and National Commission for Scheduled
Tribes, either exempt such district
or districts from this provision
or combine such district(s) with
any other neighbouring district(s)
for the purpose of establishing
exclusive special courts; |
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(2)
The Special Courts set up under
this provision shall not be the
same as any of the existing courts
of session; |
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(3)
The exclusive Special Courts shall
try offences under this Act on day-to-day
basis;” |
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| 7.2.2.2 |
Section
15 of the POA Act should be amended
as follows: |
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“
15 (1) Special Public Prosecutor-
For every Special Court, the State
Government shall, by notification
in the Official Gazette, appoint
a Public Prosecutor or appoint an
Advocate who has been in practice
as an Advocate for not less than
seven years, as a special Public
Prosecutor, for the purpose exclusively
of conducting cases under this Act
in that Court; |
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“
15 (1) Special Public Prosecutor-
For every Special Court, the State
Government shall, by notification
in the Official Gazette, appoint
a Public Prosecutor or appoint an
Advocate who has been in practice
as an Advocate for not less than
seven years, as a special Public
Prosecutor, for the purpose exclusively
of conducting cases under this Act
in that Court; |
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“
(2) Special Investigating Officer
– For every Special Court,
the State Government shall, by notification
in the official gazette, appoint
a Police Officer as Investigating
officer exclusively for the purpose
of investigation in respect of case
of offences under this Act ;” |
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| 7.2.2.3 |
The
following new Section should be
added in the Act: |
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“Section
15 (A) |
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(1) |
The
Judges of the exclusive Special
Courts of Session and the special
Investigating officers and Special
Public Prosecutors shall be appointed
from panels prepared on the basis
of their record of and reputation
for upholding the Rights of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes especially
their Right to Protection from violence. |
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(2) |
The
exclusive Special Courts, and their
judges, Special Public Prosecutors
and Special Investigating officers
shall be provided with adequate
staff and facilities, so that the
discharge of their function is not
impeded. |
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(3) |
The
Posts of Judges, Special Investigating
Officers and Special Public Prosecutors
shall never be kept vacant.” |
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7.2.2.4 |
Sub-Section
(2) of Section 3 of the POA Act
should be amended to include the
following crimes against Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes as Atrocities
and to make them punishable with
imprisonment for a term of not less
than six months but which may extend
upto seven years with fine: |
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Social
Boycott; |
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Economic
Boycott; |
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Social
Blackmail; |
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Economic
Blackmail |
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Occupation
of Cultivable Government Land by
ineligible non-SC non ST persons; |
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Non-payment
of Statutory wages or giving toxic
substances like Kesri Dal as wages
in kind to SC or ST agricultural
labourers; |
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Preventing
elections to SC-reserved or ST-reserved
posts or interfering with normal
functioning of SC or ST Presidents
of Panchayats and other local bodies. |
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7.2.2.5 |
Sub-Section
(2) of Section 3 should be amended
to provide for death sentence for
murder in addition to imprisonment,
as provided in Section 302 of the
Indian Penal Code, and for mandatory
death sentence for multiple murders,
multiple or mass-rapes and gang-rapes. |
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7.2.2.6 |
In
order to make the protection of
Section 10 available to Scheduled
Castes also, the words “or
in any other area of any district”
shall be added in sub section (1)
of Section 10 after the following
existing words: |
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“….
in any area included in Scheduled
Area or Tribal Area as referred
to in Article 244 of the Constitution
….” |
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7.2.3.1 |
Protection
of complainants, victims/ survivors
and kin of victims and witnesses
is extremely important as such persons
were Dalits or speak the truth for
Dalits are most vulnerable to harassment,
threats or even attacks by those
who perpetrated the atrocity and
their kin and associates. |
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7.2.3.2 |
The
victims of atrocities and their
families should be provided with
full financial and other support
to become economically self-reliant
without their having to seek wage-employment
from their very oppressors and classes
of oppressors and the State shall
immediately take over the education
of the children of such victims/such
families in the best schools and
colleges of their choice available
in the State/in this country upto
the level of the choice of such
children/families, fully at State
cost including the cost of their
food and maintenance; |
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7.2.3.3 |
In
case of attacks collectively on
Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes
in any village or urban locality,
the State should immediately provide
full financial and other support
and takes all steps to make, all
SC and ST families of that village
or urban locality economically self-reliant
without any of their members having
to seek wage-employment from any
individual and take over the education
of all SC and ST children of such
village/urban locality in the same
manner and to the same extent as
mentioned in para 8 above. |
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7.2.3.4 |
Every
SC and ST victim of rape should
be forthwith given a permanent Government/quasi
– Government job of the highest
level appropriate to her educational
qualifications, in the Ministry/Department/PSU/Public
Financial Institution/other Public
Sector organisation of her choice
and at least of the Group D/Class-IV
level if she has no educational
qualification at all. If there is
no vacancy, a supernumerary post
should be deemed to have been created
forthwith for her appointment. The
District collectors/Heads of Department/Heads
of Department/Heads of PSU/Heads
of PSU/Heads of Public Financial
Institutions/of other Public Sector
organisations should be authorised
and mandatorily required to make
such appointments with effect from
the date of the atrocity. The State
should also take over the responsibility
of arranging her marriage if she
is unmarried or divorced or widowed
at the time of the rape. |
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7.2.4 |
A
special wing of the Rapid Action
Force should be constituted to deal
exclusively with Atrocities against
SCs and STs and similar Wings/Forces
should be constituted in each State. |
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7.2.5 |
The
measure at Paras (7.2.3.1), (7.2.3.2)
and (7.2.3.3) above shall be incorporated
in statutory rules under clauses
(iii) of sub section (2) of Section
21 of the POA Act within three months
of the formation of the Government
after the ensuing election to the
Lok Sabha. But they can and should
be implemented without waiting for
the issue of such Rules. |
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7.2.6 |
A
special scheme should be drawn up
to effectively prevent any form
of disrespect to their statues of
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, as aberrant
behaviour in this regard has become
a form of collective atrocity against
S. C. and S. T. apart from being
an insult to the Nation and thereafter
this should be suitably incorporated
in the P. O. A. Act. |
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