Take action against judges who show caste bias in rulings, Congress urges CJI
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Rajendra Pal Gautam, chairman of the scheduled caste (SC) department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), cited a recent judgement of the Odisha High Court in which a social activist was directed to sweep and clean a police station as bail conditions.
Mr. Gautam said two activists, who were protesting against illegal mining, were jailed in a 'false and fabricated case'. When one of them was granted bail by the High Court, he was told to clean a police station between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. every day for three months. Mr. Gautam said that the other activist also got bail on similar conditions from a lower court.
'If this is the attitude of a judge toward castes, then what can you expect from a common man. I would urge the CJI to find out such judicial orders and there should be action such judges too,' Mr. Gautam said.
Quoting a 2021 judgement of the Chhattisgarh High Court, Mr. Gautam said a rape accused was acquitted on the grounds that 'upper caste men cannot rape an SC or ST woman'.
'A similar reasoning was given in the infamous Bhanwari Devi gang rape case in Rajasthan in 1992. Nothing has changed in all these years,' the AICC SC department head said.
Quoting National Crime Records Bureau data, Mr. Gautam said there was a consistent increase in the crimes against SCs and STs, and that there was a need to strengthen the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. He said these bodies have been rendered powerless as the government has not appointed all the members.
Mr. Gautam said that out of over six lakh complaints received regarding atrocities against SCs and STs, only about 7,500 were heard by these Commissions. 'If you do not want these commissions to function, it is better scrap them,' he said.
The Congress leader also alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that claims to be working for the unity of Hindus does not consider Dalits and tribals as Hindus.
Mr. Gautam said that there has been 35% increase in atrocities against SCs and STs. To argue how the national bodies for the protection of SCs and STs have become powerless, he cited examples from different States to make the point that there is no effective deterrence.
He said in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara, a tribal person was forced to drink urine earlier this week, while in a recent incident in Odisha, a tribal man was forced to walk on his knees after he was allegedly accosted by Bajrang Dal activists.
'In Tamil Nadu, there was a case where a Dalit sarpanch (panchayat head) was forced to sit on the floor while forward caste people sat on chairs,' he said.
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