Chapter-7
Crime against Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes
India is committed to the
welfare and development of its
people in general and of vulnerable
sections of society in particular.
Equality of status and opportunity to
all citizens of the country is
guaranteed by the Constitution of
India, which also provides that no
individual shall be discriminated
against on the grounds of religion,
caste or sex, etc. Fundamental rights
and other specific provisions,
namely, Articles 38, 39 and 46 in the
Constitution of India stand testimony
to the commitment of the State
towards its people. The strategy of
the State is to secure distributive
justice and allocation of resources to
support programmes for social,
economic and educational
advancement of the weaker sections
in general and persons belonging to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes in particular.
Constitutional rights
The Indian Constitution vide
Article 15 lays down that no citizen
shall be subjected to any disability or
restriction on the grounds of religion,
race, caste, sex or place of birth. It
also guarantees that every citizen
shall have equality of status and
opportunity.
The problems of social
inequality and class divide in a
country like India with heterogeneous
groups and sub-groups needs to be
recognised and resolved by all
available democratic measures
including special legislations to deal
with particular acts constituting
Crime in India-2013
offences against such weaker sections
of the society. `Scheduled Castes' and
`Scheduled Tribes' are two such
identified social groups. Article 46 of
the constitution of India expressly
provides that the State shall promote
the educational and economic
upliftment of the weaker sections of
the society, in particular of SCs & STs
with special care and shall protect
them from injustice and all forms of
exploitation.
Legal rights
Special social enactments
have come into force from time to time
for SCs and STs in order to uphold the
constitutional mandate and safeguard
the interests of these sections of the
society.
The major legal enactments at
the national level are:
(i) Protection of Civil Rights Act,
1955;
(ii) Scheduled Caste/Scheduled
Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act, 1989
The Protection of Civil Rights
Act, 1955 was enacted in furtherance
of Article 17 of the constitution to
abolish untouchability and its practice
in any form.
105
 INCIDENCE OF CRIME AGAINST SCHEDULED CASTES
DURING 2013
( All India 39,408 )

Crime in India-2013 106

 The Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989 was brought into
force from 30th January 1990 in order
to check and deter crimes against
SCs/STs by persons belonging to
other communities. These
enactments have extended the
positive discrimination in favour of
SCs and STs to the field of criminal
law in as much as they prescribe
penalties that are more stringent than
the corresponding offences under
Indian penal code (IPC) and other
laws. Special Courts have been
established in major states for
speedy trial of cases registered
exclusively under these Acts.
Classification of crimes
The crimes against persons
belonging to Scheduled Castes
/Scheduled Tribes are broadly
categorised under two major heads:
1) Under the Indian Penal
Code (IPC)
(i) Murder
(ii) Hurt
(iii) Rape
(iv) Kidnapping & abduction
(v) Dacoity
(vi) Robbery
(vii) Arson
(viii) Others (other classified
IPC crimes)
2) Under Special Laws (SL)
(i) The Protection of Civil
Rights Acts, 1955
(ii) The Scheduled Castes
and the Scheduled
Crime in India-2013
Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The crimes under IPC such as
`murder', `hurt', `rape', etc. or under
Special Acts such as The Protection of
Civil Rights Act and The Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act are
already included in overall crimes
reported under IPC and SLLs
respectively and have been discussed
in detail in the preceding chapters. The
specific crimes against SCs/STs
discussed in the following paragraphs
are part and parcel of total crimes but
analysed separately for better
comprehension of crimes committed
against SCs & STs.
The data on crimes against
SCs/STs are being compiled with
provision for district-wise reporting of
these crimes with effect from the year
2001. Cases under the Protection of
Civil Rights Act and the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act have
been segregated for SCs and STs to
have clear picture of all the crimes
against each category. Cumulative
totals of data available on monthly
basis were used for analysis till 2000
which did not distinguish true or false
cases, therefore, the incidence of
crime reported in the year 2001 and
later years may not be comparable
with figures of earlier years.
The ‘Crime Rate’ for crimes
committed against SCs and STs has
been calculated using only the
population of SC and ST respectively
based on The Population Census
2011.
107
 RATE OF CRIME AGAINST SCHEDULED CASTES
DURING 2013
( All India 19.57 )

Note:
Rate of Crime against Scheduled Castes means number of crimes against Scheduled Castes per one lakh population of SCs.
Population of SCs based on the Population Census 2011 was used for calculation of Crime Rate.

Crime in India-2013 108

Crime against Scheduled
Castes
Incidence of Crime - National
(Incidence (IPC+SLL): 39,408)
The year 2013 has witnessed
an increase of 17.1% in crime
committed against persons
belonging to Scheduled Castes as
33,655 cases reported in the year
2012 which increased to 39,408
cases in the year 2013. An increase
in incidents of the crimes was
observed in all crime heads except
arson during 2013 over 2012. An
increase of 66.7%, 31.5%, 28.2%,
27.1 and 11.1% was reported under
crime heads ‘dacoity’, ‘rape’,
‘kidnapping & abduction’, ‘hurt’ and
‘SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act’ respectively in the year 2013
over previous year (2012). A
decrease of 11.7% was reported
under crime head ‘arson’ during the
year 2013 over the year 2012. Uttar
Pradesh, sharing 20.5% of SC
population, has accounted for 18.0%
(7,078 out of 39,408 cases) of total
such cases reported in the country
followed by Bihar (17.0%) (6,721
cases), Rajasthan (16.4%) (6,475
cases) and Andhra Pradesh (8.3%)
(3,270 cases).
Crime rate
(Crime rate: 19.6)
The rate of crime
against Scheduled Castes was
observed as 19.6 during the year
2013. Rajasthan has reported the
highest crime rate of 52.98 in the
year 2013 followed by Goa (47.1),
Bihar (40.2). Odisha (36.1), and
Gujarat (29.2) against the national
average of 19.6.
Crime in India-2013
Crime head-wise Analysis of
crimes against Scheduled Castes
Murder
(Incidence: 676)
A total of 676 cases of murder
were reported in the country during
the year 2013 as compared to 651
cases in the year 2012 registering an
increase of 3.8%. Uttar Pradesh has
accounted for 32.8% of the total
murder cases reported in the country
(222 out of 676 cases) followed by
Madhya Pradesh 11.4% (77 out of
676 cases).
Hurt
(Incidence: 4,901 Rate:2.4)
A total of 4,901 cases of hurt
were reported during the year 2013
as compared to 3,855 cases in the
year 2012 in the country registering
an increase of 27.1% during the year
2013 as compared to the year 2012.
Madhya Pradesh (817 cases), Andhra
Pradesh (659 cases) and Odisha (646
cases) together accounted for 43.3%
of the 4,901 such cases reported at
national level during the year 2013.
Rape
(Incidence: 2,073 Rate: 2.1)
A total of 2,073 cases of rape
of women belonging to Scheduled
castes were reported in the country
during the year 2013 as compared to
1,576 cases in the year 2012, thowing
an increase of 31.5%. Madhya
Pradesh has reported 397 cases
accounting for 19.1% of the total 2073
cases reported in the country followed
by Uttar Pradesh 18.9% (391 out of
2,073 cases).
109
 Kidnapping & Abduction Robbery
(Incidence: 628) (Incidence: 62)

A total of 628 cases of A total of 62 cases of robbery

Kidnapping & Abduction of persons
belonging to Scheduled Castes
were reported during the year 2013
as compared to 490 cases in the
year 2012, reporting an increase of
28.2%. Uttar Pradesh has reported
48.4% (304 out of 628 cases) of
were reported during the year 2013
as compared to 40 cases in the
previous year thus reporting an
increase of 55.0%. Maharashtra (22)
and Gujarat (16) together accounted
for 61.3% of total cases reported in
the country.

Table-7(A)
Comparative incidence of crime against Scheduled Castes

Sl. Year %
No. Variation
   Crime-head in 2013
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 over
2012
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
1 Murder 624 570 673 651 676 3.84
2 Rape 1,346 1,349 1,557 1,576 2,073 31.54
3 Kidnapping & Abduction 512 511 616 490 628 28.16
4 Dacoity 44 42 36 27 45 66.67
5 Robbery 70 75 54 40 62 55.00
6 Arson 195 150 169 214 189 -11.68
7 Hurt 4,410 4,376 4,247 3,855 4,901 27.13
8 Protection of Civil Rights Act 168 143 67 62 62 0.00
SC/ST (Prevention of
9 11,143 10,513 11,342 12,576 13,975 11.12
Atrocities) Act
10 Others 15,082 14,983 14,958 14,164 16,797 18.59
Total 33,594 32,712 33,719 33,655 39,408 17.09

such incidences during the year

during 2013.
Dacoity
(Incidence: 45)
A total of 45 cases of dacoity
were reported during the year 2013
as compared to 27 cases in the year
2012 thus reporting an increase of
66.7%. Maharashtra has reported
the highest number of 26 such
cases, accounting for 57.8% of total
cases reported at national level
during 2013.
Arson
(Incidence: 189)
A total of 189 cases of arson
were reported during the year 2013
as compared to 214 cases in the year
2012 thus reporting a decline of
11.7%. Bihar has reported the
highest number of 51 cases followed
by Uttar Pradesh (29 cases)
Rajasthan (26 cases), these three
States accounted 56.1% of total such
cases reported in the country.

Crime in India-2013 110

Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955
(Incidence: 62)
A total of 62 cases were
reported during the year 2013.
Maharashtra has reported the 21
cases of such crimes followed by
Puducherry (15 cases), Karnataka
(11 cases) and Andhra Pradesh (6
cases) during the year 2013. These
four States together have accounted
for 85.5% of total cases reported in
the country.
SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act
(Incidence: 13,975 Rate: 6.9)
A total of 13,975 cases were
reported under this Act during the
year 2013 as compared to 12,576 in
the year 2012, thus reporting an
increase of 11.1%. Bihar has
reported 5,584 cases accounting for
39.9% of the total cases reported in
the country followed by Uttar
Pradesh (13.2%) (1,847 cases),
Odisha (12.8%) (1,785 cases), and
Karnataka (9.9%)(1,380 cases). At
33.7, the highest rate of crime was
reported in Bihar as compared to
national rate of 6.9.
Crimes against Scheduled
Tribes
(Incidence : 6,793 Rate: 6.5)
A total of 6,793 cases of
crimes(IPC+SLL) committed against
Scheduled Tribes were reported in
the country during the year 2013 as
compared to 5,922 cases in the year
2012, thus showing an increase of
14.7% in 2013 over 2012. This
increase was observed under crime
heads ’rape’, 'kidnapping & The incidents of Kidnapping &
abduction', 'dacoity', ‘arson’, ‘hurt’,
‘protection of civil rights act’ and
SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The details are presented in Table-7
(B). Rajasthan has reported 24.3%
(1,651 cases) followed by Madhya
Pradesh 19.1% (1,296 cases) of the
Crime in India-2013
total 13,975 such cases reported in the
country during the year 2013. However
the crime rate was highest in Kerala at
27.8 as compared to only 6.5 at the
national level. Hence on an average,
28 persons belonging to Scheduled
Tribes in Kerala were victims of crimes
per one lakh STs population during
2013.
Crime head-wise analysis of
Crimes against Scheduled Tribes
Murder
(Incidence: 122)
A total of 122 cases of murder
of persons belonging to Scheduled
Tribes were reported in the year 2013
as compared to 156 cases in the year
2012, showing a decline of 21.8%.
Madhya Pradesh has reported the
highest number of cases (42 cases)
accounting for 34.4% cases followed
by Rajasthan (21 cases) accounting
for 17.2% of the total such cases
reported in the country during the year
2013.
Rape
(Incidence: 847)
A total of 847 cases were
reported in the year 2013 as compared
to 729 cases in the year 2012, thus
showing an increase of 16.2%.
Madhya Pradesh has reported 329
cases accounting for 38.8% of the total
cases in the country during the year
2013.
Kidnapping & Abduction
(Incidence: 130)
abduction have increased by 26.2% in
the year 2013 over the year 2012
(from 103 cases in 2012 to 1,330
cases in 2013). Madhya Pradesh has
111
 INCIDENCE OF CRIME AGAINST SCHEDULED TRIBES
DURING 2013
( All India 6,793 )

Crime in India-2013 112

reported 46 such cases followed by
Gujarat and Rajasthan 22 cases
each. These three States together
accounted for 69.2% of the total 130
cases reported in the country.
Dacoity
(Incidence: 8)
A total of 8 cases were
reported in the country during the
year 2013. Maharashtra (6 cases),
Gujarat and Odisha (1 case each)
together accounted for 100% of such
cases during the year 2013.
Robbery
(Incidence: 7)
A total of 7 cases were
reported during the year 2013 as
compared to 15 cases in the year
2012, indicating a decline of 53.3%
in 2013 over 2012. Odisha (3 cases),
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (2
cases each) together accounted for
100% of such cases during the year
2013.
. 36.9% (513 cases) of the total 1,390
Hurt
(Incidence: 930 Rate: 0.9)
A total of 930 cases were
reported during the year 2013 as
compared to 816 cases in the year
2012, thus showing an increase of
14.0%. Madhya Pradesh has
accounted for 21.9% (204 cases) of
total 930 cases reported in the
country followed by Odisha (196
cases) and Rajasthan (120 cases).
The highest crime rate of 6.4 was
reported in Kerala as compared to
the national average of 0.9.
Arson
(Incidence: 33)
A total of 33 cases were
reported in the year 2013 as
compared to 26 cases in the year
2012 showing an increase of 26.9%.
Sikkim has accounted for 24.2%
Crime in India-2013
(8 cases) of total 33 such cases
reported in the country followed by
Rajasthan have reported 18.2% (6
cases) and Madhya Pradesh (5
Cases) (15.2%) of such crime during
the year 2013.
Protection of Civil Rights Act
(Incidence: 25)
A total of 25 cases were
reported during the year 2013 as
compared to 2 cases in the year 2012,
thus showing a steep increase in
incidents of such cases in 2013 over
2012. Karnataka (14 cases) and
Maharashtra (8 cases) together
accounted for 88.0% of such cases
during the year 2013.
SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act
(Incidence: 1,390 Rate: 1.3)
A total of 1,390 cases were
reported during the year 2013 as
compared to 1,311 cases in the year
2012, thus showing an increase of
6.0%. Odisha has accounted for
cases reported in the country followed
by Karnataka (303 cases), Jharkhand
(195 cases), Andhra Pradesh (126
cases) and Bihar (68 cases)
accounted for 86.7% of such crime
during the year 2013.
Disposal of Crimes by Police
Courts
The general trend of disposal
of IPC and SLL crimes by police and
courts has already been discussed in
detail in Chapter-4. The average
charge-sheeting rate for the crimes
against Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes stood at 89.9% and
94.2% respectively in comparison to
national level general charge-sheeting
rate of 79.5% for IPC crimes and
94.3% for SLL crimes.
113
 RATE OF CRIME AGAINST SCHEDULED TRIBES
DURING 2013
( All India 6.51 )

Note:
Rate of Crime against Scheduled Tribes means number of crimes against Scheduled Tribes per one lakh population of STs.
2011 Actual Census (Provisional) ST population used for calculation of Crime Rate..

Crime in India-2013 114

 Crime against Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Figure 7.1
- State/UT-wise during 2013/2012
KERALA HARYANA

Crime in India-2013
1.92%/2.41% 1.25%/0.75%
JHARKHAND OTHER STATES/U Ts
2.48%/2.07% 2.08%/2.22%

GUJARAT WEST BENGAL BIHAR OTHER

3.02%/3.05% KERALA 1.80%/1.54% 1.34%/2.01%
MAHARASHTRA STATES/UT s
1.99%/2.09%
4.26%/3.24% UTTAR PRADESH 1.97%/2.21%
17.96%/18.43%
RAJASTHAN
TAMIL NADU GUJARAT
24.30%/22.81%
4.68%/4.89% 3.30%/3.73%

CHHATTISGARH
KARNATAKA BIHAR
4.87%/5.81%
6.51%/7.74% 17.05%/14.32%

JHARKHAND
ODISHA 5.83%/4.85%
6.58%/6.73%
MADHYA MAHARASHTRA
RAJASTHAN
PRAD- 6.11%/5.20%
16.43%/16.52%
ESH
7.47%/8.54% ANDHRA PRADESH
8.30%/9.08% KARNATAKA
7.88%/6.32% MADHYA
PRADESH
19.08%/20.57%
ANDHRA
PRADESH
9.89%/11.25%
ODISHA
11.64%/11.62%

Percntage of Crime w.r.t to All India for 2013

Percentage of Crime w.r.t. to All India for 2012

115
 Table-7(B)
Comparative incidence of crime against Scheduled Tribes

Year %
Sl. Variation
Crime-Head
No. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 in 2013
over 2012
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
1 Murder 118 142 143 156 122 -21.8

2 Rape 583 654 772 729 847 16.2

3 Kidnapping & Abduction 82 84 137 103 130 26.2

4 Dacoity 3 7 7 5 8 60.0

5 Robbery 24 5 9 15 7 -53.3

6 Arson 29 39 24 26 33 26.9

7 Hurt 787 941 803 816 930 14.0

8 Protection of Civil Rights Act 2 5 7 2 25 1,150.0

SC/ST (Prevention of
9 944 1,169 1,154 1,311 1,390 6.0
Atrocities) Act
10 Others 2,853 2,839 2,700 2,759 3,301 19.6

Total 5,425 5,885 5,756 5,922 6,793 14.7

The average conviction rate for charge-sheeted by the police,

crimes against Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes stood at
23.8% and 16.4% respectively as
compared to overall conviction rate of
40.2% relating to IPC cases and
90.9% relating to SLL cases. The
crime head-wise and State/UT-wise
details of disposal of crimes against
Scheduled Castes are presented in
Table-7.3 to Table-7.8 while those
for Scheduled Tribes are presented
in Table-7.11 to Table-7.16.
Disposal of persons arrested by
police and courts
A total of 60,527 persons
(70.6%) out of 85,748 persons
(including persons under
investigation of previous year),
arrested for committing crimes
against Scheduled Castes, were
accounting for charge-sheet rate of
70.6%. A total of 8,719 persons were
convicted by the court, out of 39,691
persons against whom trials were
completed, representing a conviction
rate of 22.0%.
8,964 persons out of 11,023
persons arrested for crimes committed
against Scheduled Tribes were
charge-sheeted accounting for 81.3%
charge-sheeting rate. A total of 1,100
persons were convicted out of 6,314
persons against whom trials were
completed representing 17.4%
conviction rate. The details are
presented in Table-7.17 to Table-7.24.
  

Crime in India-2013 116