The Scheduled Castes And The Scheduled Tribes Act 1989


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

The Scheduled Castes And The Scheduled Tribes Act 1989

The Scheduled Castes And The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989

This act was farmed in 1989 in response to demands made by Dalit and others that the government must take seriously the ill treatment and humiliation Dalit and tribal groups face in an everyday sense. During this period, in parts of southern India, a number of assertive Dalit groups came into being and asserted their rights-they refused to perform their so-called caste duties and insisted on being treated equally. In order to indicate to the government that untouchability was still being practiced and in the most hideous manner, Dalit groups demanded new laws that would list the various sorts of violence against dalits and prescribe stringent punishment for those who indulge in them. This is why this act contains a very long list of crimes, some of which are too horrible even to contemplate. The act does not only describe terrible crimes, but also lets people know what dreadful deeds human beings are capable of. The act distinguishes several levels of crimes. Firstly, it lists modes of humiliation that are both physically horrific and morally reprehensible and seeks to punish those who force a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance; forcibly removes clothes from the person of a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe or parades him or her naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity. Secondly, it lists actions that dispossess Dalit and Adivasi of their meager resources or which force them into performing slave labour. Thus, the act sets out to punish anyone who wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe or gets the land allotted to him transferred. At another level, the act recognizes that crimes against Dalit and tribal women are of a specific kind and, therefore seeks to penalize anyone who assaults or uses force on any woman belonging to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe with intent to dishonor her.

 
 
 


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