This Article is From Nov 12, 2013

Centre to make Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act more stringent

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet will debate the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act of 1989 tomorrow to introduce stricter penalties for harassing people belonging to the two groups.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has moved a Cabinet note to plug the loopholes in the existing Act and make crimes against the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes more specific.

As per the proposal, punishment for crimes - under the Act - that presently attract a 10-year jail term will be doubled.

Certain other provisions too will be made stricter. For example, removal of clothes of a person belonging to the two groups is an offence. Now, parading of partially-clothed people, removal of moustache and tonsuring and garlanding by footwear would also qualify as crimes against them.

Earlier, depriving a person of his or her land and denying water was a seen as a crime. Now, denying someone of forest produce and destroying their crops will attract strict punishment.  

Similarly, forced manual labour was mentioned as an offence earlier. Now, the 'forced manual labour' has been defined. Manual scavenging, asked to forcibly remove carcasses, drum beating among others are seen as violating the law.

"We are trying to make punishments stronger and want to put the fear of law. In many rural areas, atrocities go unpunished despite being reported to authorities," says an official associated with the making of the proposed changes in the law.
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