Diwan Advocates

Crimes Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

A Dalit farmer's land is forcibly occupied by dominant caste neighbours. When he attempts to return to his field, he is assaulted and his family is threatened. The local police refuse to register an FIR. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was enacted precisely for this situation. An FIR under the POA Act is mandatory. An officer who refuses to register it is committing an offence. The farmer needs a lawyer who knows this and can enforce it.

A tribal community in a forest area is being displaced by a mining project. The company holds environmental and forest clearances. What it does not hold is the consent of the gram sabha, which is required under PESA before any land acquisition in a scheduled area can proceed. The community's forest rights under the Forest Rights Act have not been settled. Both clearances are legally vulnerable for exactly this reason.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is one of the most important but also most contested pieces of legislation in Indian law. It creates specific criminal offences for caste-based violence and humiliation, mandates Special Courts for fast trial, and requires states to pay interim relief to victims. It has also been the subject of Supreme Court decisions that attempted to dilute its provisions, and of Parliamentary amendments in 2015 and 2018 that restored its teeth. At Diwan Advocates, we work on both sides of the Act: representing victims of atrocities and defending persons accused where the facts do not support the charge.

The POA Act: Offences and the Mandatory FIR

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 creates criminal offences specifically for acts committed against members of SC or ST communities on account of their caste or tribal identity. These include forcing a member of an SC or ST to drink or eat noxious substances, dumping excreta on their premises, parading them naked or with painted face, wrongful occupation of their land, forcing them to do begar labour, corrupting their water sources, and committing sexual assault on women from SC or ST communities.

An FIR under the POA Act must be registered at the police station without any preliminary enquiry. The Supreme Court in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra (2018) had held that a preliminary enquiry was required and that anticipatory bail could be granted. Parliament reversed this ruling through the 2018 amendment, which specifically prohibited preliminary enquiries before registration and removed the bar on anticipatory bail while requiring that it be granted only after notice to the public prosecutor.

Who Is Covered

The protection of the POA Act applies only where the victim is a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe as notified under the Constitution and the offence is committed against them because of their SC or ST identity. Both elements must be established. The accused need not be a non-SC or non-ST person for the Act to apply, though caste identity of the accused is relevant to the motivation element.

Special Courts and Special Public Prosecutors

The POA Act requires each state to establish Special Courts for the exclusive and speedy trial of atrocity offences. These courts are required to complete trials within two months of the date on which the charge is framed. States must also appoint Special Public Prosecutors with experience in law, who are exclusively assigned to prosecute POA cases. We appear alongside Special Public Prosecutors in atrocity cases and advise victims and their families on the progress of the trial.

Interim Relief and Victim Compensation

The POA Rules require states to pay interim relief to atrocity victims at prescribed rates from the date of the atrocity, without waiting for the outcome of the trial. The relief is payable for death, grievous hurt, damage to property, rape, and other specified atrocities. District Magistrates are responsible for paying the relief. Where states fail to pay the interim relief or pay less than the prescribed amount, we pursue the relief through directions from the High Court or the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

The 2015 and 2018 Amendments

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 added new offences to the POA Act including garlanding with footwear, tonsuring of head, moustache, or similar acts that are derogatory to SC or ST dignity, taking away property used for community purposes, dedicating SC or ST women as devadasi, forced marriage, manual scavenging, and witchcraft-related atrocities.

The 2018 amendment directly responded to the Supreme Court's Subhash Kashinath Mahajan ruling. It inserted a specific provision making clear that no preliminary enquiry is required before registration of an FIR, and that the approval of senior police officers before arrest is not a prerequisite. Parliament's intention was unambiguous: the procedural protections introduced by the Supreme Court were reversed legislatively.

Forest and Land Rights of Tribal Communities

Scheduled Tribes living in forest areas have individual and community rights recognised under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. These include the right to live in and cultivate land occupied before December 2005, the right to use forest produce, grazing rights, and the community's right to protect and manage its forests. These rights must be settled by the Gram Sabha before any forest land can be diverted for any purpose, including mining, infrastructure, or conservation.

The PESA Act, 1996 extends constitutional self-governance provisions to scheduled areas and gives gram sabhas in these areas the right to approve all development activities affecting the community, manage natural resources, and control land alienation. Development projects that proceed without PESA gram sabha consent in scheduled areas are legally vulnerable and have been stayed by High Courts and the Supreme Court in several cases.

Constitutional Reservations: SC and ST

Reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government employment and educational institutions are constitutionally mandated under Articles 15(4) and 16(4). The scope of the reservation, the creamy layer question for STs (the Supreme Court has held that the creamy layer exclusion applies to STs in the context of promotions), and the sub-classification of SC reservations among more and less disadvantaged sub-groups are all subjects of ongoing constitutional litigation following the seven-judge bench decision in State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh (2024).

We advise both institutions implementing reservation policies and individuals challenging exclusion from reservation benefits or challenging the legality of a particular reservation scheme.

Why Diwan Advocates for SC and ST Matters?

Legislative Reference Index

The Prevention of Atrocities Act exists because ordinary criminal law was not enough to protect India's most marginalised communities.

Enforcing it effectively requires lawyers who understand its provisions, its history, and its purpose.

Diwan Advocates brings all three.

Diwan Advocates  |  Delhi, India