Atrocities against Dalits at 17-year high in Gujarat, RTI reply shows

Times of India: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

The Una flogging incident sparked a Dalit movement in Gujarat, but this seems to have had no effect as atrocities against Dalits saw a steep increase in the state.

According to RTI figures, the state registered 1,515 cases under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2017, the highest number in 17 years.

According to figures obtained through RTI by Mehsana-based Dalit activist Kaushik Parmar, these 1,515 cases include 25 murders, 71 severe assaults and 103 cases of Dalit women being raped. The figures show that atrocities on Dalits have increased year-on-year instead of lessening.

The number of atrocity cases in the state jumped from 1,046 in 2015 to 1,355 in 2016, an increase of 309. In 2017, the so-called model state of Gujarat registered a further increase of 160 cases.

Shockingly, Ahmedabad registered the highest number of atrocity cases in 2017, 121, which includes five murders and 17 rapes. The data clearly shows that caste-based discrimination is as widespread in cities, contradicting the notion that casteist discrimination is a rural problem.

It needs mention that In July 2016, Gujarat witnessed a Dalit movement after a video of four Dalit animal skinners being flogged by gau rakshaks in Una spread on social media. In September 2012, three Dalit youths were killed by police firing in Thangadh town of Surendranagar district. The report of the Thangadh case inquiry committee set up by the government has not yet been made public.

Kaushik Parmar said, “Atrocity cases have increased rapidly in Gujarat because neither the state government nor the police are keen on implementing the Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Police do not help Dalit victims when they go to file FIRs. Besides, dalits are not only targeted in rural areas but cities are also witnessing a steep rise in atrocity cases, including murder and rape cases.”

Ishwar Parmar, the social justice and empowerment minister, said there were political reasons behind the increase in atrocity cases.

“This may be because political parties or politically motivated people who are involved in caste-based agitations were instrumental in registering atrocity cases, so that the BJP government could be defamed. Since I have assumed the portfolio, I have been making sincere efforts to deal with such cases,” said Parmar.