PFI backs Dalit agitation against dilution of SC/ST Act

New Delhi, Apr 3: Popular Front of India chairman E Abubacker has stated that the organization stands with the Dalit community in their ongoing protests against Supreme Court ruling which diluted Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 

A release issued by the PFI, stated that the main reason for such verdicts is that the depressed classes are under-represented and upper castes are over-represented in Indian judiciary.  He blamed the BJP government at the centre for not intervening in favour of SCs and STs, when the case came before the Supreme Court.  

Even after 7 decades of independence, atrocities on Dalits are rampant across the country. In the last few years alone, the country has witnessed inhuman crimes committed on Dalits for no other reason than that they are Dalits. Owning a horse, entering a temple and falling in love are reasons for a Dalit man or woman to get killed by the upper castes. 

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data says the rate of crimes against Dalits is on the rise in recent years. These are happening in spite of the stringent provisions of the existing SC-ST Act which are not being followed by administration and police. Because of further dilution of the provisions of the law, the life and dignity of Dalits will be more in peril, the release said.

E. Abubacker congratulated various Dalit groups for the large scale success of the protest day demonstrations on 2nd April.  He also condemned the killings of protesters and wide atrocities inflicted on them by casteist and communal elements and police forces in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.