New Delhi: Cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989) have shown an increasing trend from 2018 to 2020, statistics shared by Minister of State (MoS) for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday in a written reply in the Upper House of the Parliament showed.
Citing NCRB data, the Minister stated that as many as 58,538 cases were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989) in 2020 while it was 53,515 in 2019 and 49,064 in 2018.
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"Since Police and Public Order are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule (List-Il) in the Constitution of India, the responsibility of maintaining Law and Order, Protection of life and property of the citizens including SCs/STs rests with the respective State Governments/Union Territory Administrations and the States are competent to deal with such offenses under the extant provision of Law," he added.
Athawale further stated that the Union issues advisories to the State Governments/UT Administrations from time to time for effective implementation of the POA Act and Rules made thereunder. The MoS also said that the National Helpline against Atrocities (NHAA) on the members of SC and the ST communities has been also launched by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
