The response of post-Independence India to crimes against dalits is a curious mix of comprehensive legislation and a comprehensive failure to administer them.

Checking crimes against the Scheduled Castes was one of the urgent tasks the new nation had set for itself. Its Constitution of 1950 reflected this. Article 14 enjoins equality before law. Article 15 expressly prohibits discrimination on grounds of caste among others. Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, with a specific reference to caste. Article 17 abolishes untouchability in any form. Apart from these, there were Articles 243, 330 and 332, which mandated reservations for SCs/STs.

Five years after the Constitution, the state enacted the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. But since this law was found to address the issue in a very superficial manner, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was enacted in 1989. The offences set down in the Act range from humiliations like forcing members of the community to eat or drink obnoxious substances or dumping excreta outside their homes, or stripping and parading them naked, to the crime of forcibly occupying and cultivating their land, or compelling them into performing bonded labour. Crimes against women in this context were specifically recognised, including those of a sexual nature. What is instructive about this elaborate roster of offences is that its roots lie in the everyday experiences of dalits in many parts of the country.

The Atrocities Act invites strict penalties, provides for the externment of those likely to commit offences, asks for the setting up of special courts for speedy trials, provides for collective fines, and puts the onus on the government to ensure effective implementation of the law. In 1995 rules dealing with the Act came into force. Among other things, they allowed the government to take pre-cautionary and preventive measure if it had reason to believe that an atrocity would be committed.

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