E-Paper
Crimes against SCs fell by 4.4% last year, Rajasthan records highest rate
The number of crimes against scheduled castes across India dipped by 4.4% in 2015 when compared to the previous year with Rajasthan recording the highest rate of crime against the marginalized community.
The number of crimes against scheduled castes across India dipped by 4.4% in 2015 when compared to the previous year with Rajasthan recording the highest rate of crime against the marginalized community.
Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau showed that India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh – which has the country’s highest population of scheduled castes – reported the most number of crimes against the community – 8,358. The Dalit population that forms more than a fifth of the state’s population is expected to be a key factor in the assembly polls next year.
But the rate of crime against SC – the number of crime divided by the population of the community – was much higher in neighbouring Rajasthan. The desert state reported 57.3 crimes per 100,000 scheduled caste people, almost three times the figure for UP.
Across India, crimes against the community slowed down from 47,064 last year to 45,0003 – a dip of 4.4% -- but some states such as Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh bucked the trend.
Gujarat – the focus of a wave of recent Dalit protests – reported a 7% drop in the number of crimes against scheduled castes when compared to last year and a middling rate of crime at 25.7. Among states with a big SC population, West Bengal recorded the lowest rate of crime at just 0.9%.
India has been at the centre of a massive nationwide debate against caste discrimination with protests across the country, especially after the suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad and the flogging of four Dalit men at the hands of alleged cow protectors in Gujarat.
