In early April 2018, lakhs of people belonging to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
(SC/ST) protested across India against an order of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
on the
Atrocities Act. In subsequent violence, 14 people died and hundreds were injured.
Background
The
protects the SC/ST caste groups. The act does not allow the court to grant
anticipatory bail to accused person. The police must file a
First Information Report
__NOTOC__
A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commi ...
(FIR) and arrest the accused on receiving a complaint.
[ In 2016, the conviction rate under the act was 25.7% in cases of atrocities against SC and 20.8% in cases against ST in 2016, according to the ]National Crime Records Bureau
The National Crime Records Bureau, abbreviated to NCRB, is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL). NCRB is headquartered in New ...
. On 20 March 2018, the Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
ruled that no arrests can be made without prior permission and allowed a court to grant an anticipatory bail if it, prima facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
, finds the complaint an abuse of the law. The Attorney General of India
The Attorney General for India is the Indian government's chief legal advisor, and is its chief advocate in the courts. They are appointed by the President of India at the instance of the Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution an ...
, on behalf of the Government of India
The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
, filed a review petition against the order of the Supreme Court.
Protests
The people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
(SC/ST) protested against the Supreme Court order. Thousands of people took to the streets on 2 April 2018, when a national strike was announced by representatives of the SC/ST caste groups in protest of the decision. The protests turned violent across several states in India as the protestors blocked trains, damaged property, and clashed with police and other civilians. There were also incidents involving arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
, vandalism and gunfire. At least fourteen people were killed: nine in Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...
, Three in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, two in Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
; hundreds of others were injured. Violent incidents were also reported in the states Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
, Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...
, Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...
, Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...
, Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...
, Maharashtra and Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...
.
Suspected non-Dalit groups, who were angered by the rampage, targeted Dalit slums in retaliation and burnt the house of Bharosi Lal Jatav, a former Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...
(INC) legislator, and ransacked the home of Rajkumari Jatav, a Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...
(BJP) legislator from Hindaun
Hindaun is a city and municipality, near city of Karauli in Karauli district, Rajasthan, India. It has a population of 105690 and is governed by a municipal council.
In the vicinity are the Aravalli and Vindhya mountainous ranges.
Histor ...
, Rajasthan. A curfew was imposed in Hindaun following the violence, and later extended.
Twenty four government vehicles and sixty private vehicles were damaged in Haryana. 84 police officials and eight civilians were injured during the violence on 2 April in Haryana. Nine policemen were injured in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mu ...
.
Response
Thousands of protesters were arrested and curfew
A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...
was imposed in several places. 1700 anti-riot police were sent to states by the Government of India. Section 144 Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then ter ...
of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) (which prohibits assembly of more than four people) was imposed in Haridwar
Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district.
The city is situated on the ri ...
, Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...
. Police had filed reports against 5,000 unidentified and 285 named miscreants, while 32 agitators were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established i ...
in Ghaziabad. At least fifteen FIRs were registered by the police in Ludhiana
Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. ...
, Punjab against hundreds of unidentified protesters for alleged road blockades and for causing obstructions. The Haryana Police booked around 4,000 persons and 100 others were arrested for indulging in violence while as many as 47 FIRs were lodged. The internet services were suspended in Punjab and Rajasthan.
Aftermath
The Supreme Court held hearing on the review petition on 3 April 2018 but did not stay
Stay may refer to:
Places
* Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US
Law
* Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment
* Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...
the order and have called to hear the matter in ten days.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caste protests in India, 2018 04
2018 in India
2018 protests
April 2018 events in India
Riots and civil disorder in India
Protests in India
2018 protests
Eighteen or 18 may refer to:
* 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19
* one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018
Film, television and entertainment
* ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...
2018 protests
Eighteen or 18 may refer to:
* 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19
* one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018
Film, television and entertainment
* ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...
History of India
History of Madhya Pradesh (1947–present)