Over 1.8 lakh cases of crimes were registered against Dalits between 2018 and 2021

Digital Desk: According to a National Crime Records Bureau report published in 2021, as many as 1,89,945 cases of crime against Dalits were registered in four years beginning in 2018.

Ajay Kumar Mishra, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, shared the data in response to a question from Bahujan Samaj Party MP Girish Chandra, who asked for statistics on the number of incidents of Dalit attacks in the last four years. He had also inquired whether there was any mechanism in place to monitor such incidents.

Mishra, on the other hand, was unable to provide figures for the previous year, stating that the most recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau, which compiles statistical data on crimes, was published in 2021. "Crime in India" is the title of the report.

According to data shared by the minister in the Lok Sabha, 27,754 people have been convicted for crimes against Dalits in the last four years. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of cases of crime against Dalits, with 11,924 in 2018, 11,829 in 2019, 12,714 in 2020, and 13,146 in 2021.

Throughout the last four years, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have reported zero cases of atrocities against Dalits.

"Police and public order are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Indian Constitution," Mishra responded. "The responsibilities of maintaining law and order, as well as the protection of citizens' lives and property, including Scheduled Castes, rest with the respective state governments, and the state governments are competent to deal with such offences under existing laws."

Mishra went on to say that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been issuing advisories to states and union territories on a regular basis to ensure that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is being implemented effectively.