Aakar Patel-Amnesty International @ National tribunal on Atrocities on Dalits and Tribals

National Dalit Movement for Justice
Still today for the majority of Dalits, regardless of education or economic status, to journey through life as a Dalit entails daily subjugation, humiliation and exclusion from India’s mainstream caste society, commencing from birth, through childhood and as an adult worker until death.

Emerging trend is that, increasing atrocities related to land, water, wages and other livelihood. Most of the atrocities are committed when Dalit attempted to assert their right to resource (land, water, wages and other livelihood) and they attempted to avail legal recourse.

This is despite the fact that many Dalits do not report crimes for fear of reprisals by the dominant castes. Despite this 27 officially registered atrocities being committed against Dalits every day, police often prevent Dalits from entering police stations, refuse the registration of cases by Dalits and regularly resort to the practice of torture against Dalits with impunity, and there exists a gross negligence of the state machinery, especially the police, resulting in impunity.

The Justice Delivery Mechanism, primarily the Legal System, which is supposed to protect the poor and the marginalized Dalit victims of in-justice, is struggling with the gigantic problems of huge number of pending cases and the biased mindset of human element within its system. Lack of minimum legal awareness among the poor and the marginalized Dalits makes their situation further worse.