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On Monday, Karnataka High Court issued notice to the State Government pertaining to the petition filed seeking directions for implementation of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 ('PoA Act') and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Rules, 1995 ('PoA Rules') in the state.
The Division Bench that comprised of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy said: "We are dealing with the enactment of the year 1989, for protecting the person belonging to Scheduled caste/Scheduled Tribes and therefore it is the duty of state government to ensure that the said act of 1989 and the rules framed thereunder are implemented in its true letter and spirit."
The Court instructed the State Government to file a statement of objections by the 15th of July, while the petition filed by Parishishtha Jaathi/Parishishtha Pangadagala Melvicharane Mattu Balavardhana Sangha Karnataka (Committee for Monitoring and Strengthening SCs/STs in Karnataka), was heard.
Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari, who is appearing on behalf of the petitioner stated that the provisions of the act are not being efficiently implemented in the State. Requirements like the establishment of Exclusive Special Courts and Special Courts for the trial of offenses against SC/ST persons in districts wherein, offense rate is high, such requirements haven’t been met.
The plea also states that no meetings have been conducted by the State-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee and District-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committees as per Rules 16 and 17 of the Rules.
With reference to a News report, the plea also asserts that despite the elaborate provisions in the purview of the PoA Act and PoA Rules, its implementation in Karnataka has been abysmal.
The Rate of convictions in Karnataka has been extremely low. In 2014 even though 1633 cases were registered under the act, the rate of conviction was at 0%.
The petition also cites the latest 2017 National Crime Records Bureau's ('NCRB') Crime Statistics Report. In which, Karnataka was the 7th ranked state in India in terms of the incidence of crimes against SCs. Further, Karnataka was the 5 th ranked state in India in terms of incidence of crimes against SC/ST persons in districts where the rate of offenses is high, have not been set up."
It was also asserted that even though Government is obligated to release annual reports on the implementation of the PoA Act, the last annual report it has released was only for the year 2016, since then no annual reports have been released.
The petition prays for directions to be issued to the respondents to effectively implement the POA Act and Rules and to monitor the implementation of the same in the state.
The next hearing of the petition will be on July 16.
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