SC's data on SC/ST Atrocities Act points weak implementation, not 'misuse'

If conviction rates under the Act are low, it has as much to do with the misuse of the provision as with the manner in which investigations are conducted and cases are prosecuted in the court

The Supreme Court recently asserted that the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 has become an instrument of “blackmail” and is being used by some to exact “vengeance” and satisfy vested interests. But viewed from the prism of what necessitated the Act and how effectively it has been implemented, a different picture emerges.

Though the intention of the court was clearly to protect officers from “arbitrary arrest” and to protect “innocent citizens” from being falsely implicated in cases, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that if conviction rates under the Act are