When legal guidelines encourage lawlessness and are become a way of destroying harmless lives and monetary greed, they deserve critical scrutiny. In recent times, a debate has been happening over the gross misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act or the SC/ST Act of 1989. From odd residents to the courts, considerations have been raised about pretend SC/ST Act circumstances used to falsely implicate people belonging to the final and OBC classes for vengeance and to acquire monetary compensation, diluting the regulation’s credibility.
The SC/ST Act was claimed to have been enacted to offer stronger safety in opposition to caste-based violence and discrimination. The regulation lists varied offences relating to varied patterns or behaviours inflicting felony offences and breaking the self-respect and esteem of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes group, which incorporates denial of financial, democratic, and social rights, discrimination, exploitation, and abuse of the authorized course of.
Below Part 18 of this Act, provision for anticipatory bail isn’t obtainable to the offenders. Any public servant who intentionally neglects his duties below this Act is liable to punishment with imprisonment for as much as 6 months. An modification was added to the unique Act in 2015 to make the Act extra stringent by including extra situations of “atrocities” as crimes in opposition to SCs and STs.
Nevertheless, over time, a sample of the weaponisation and misuse of the SC/ST Act has emerged. These eligible to invoke the SC/ST Act are misusing the regulation in circumstances of non-public disputes, property issues, or for monetary compensation.
When the Supreme Court docket acknowledged the potential of the misuse of the SC/ST Act
A serious Supreme Court docket statement on this regard got here within the 2018 Dr Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra case, during which the court docket famous the potential of the SC/ST Act getting used for “extraneous concerns”.
The Supreme Court docket had ruled that further safeguards should be supplied to civil servants earlier than arresting them below the SC/ST Act. The Court docket acknowledged that the approval of an appointing authority or an S.S.P is required earlier than arresting a public servant accused below the Act.
These against any scrutiny of the SC/ST Act additionally talked about that to keep away from false implications, a preliminary enquiry by the DSP should be carried out to seek out out whether or not the fees are appropriate and never frivolous.
The Central authorities had moved a evaluate petition earlier than the Supreme Court docket for this ruling. Nevertheless, the court docket rejected the petition, stating that its judgment isn’t in battle with the SC/ST Act and doesn’t dilute it in any means. Fairly, the ruling solely flagged the problem: “Can the freedom of an harmless be taken away with out utility of thoughts? We solely mentioned shield an harmless from being falsely implicated below the Act, which has stringent provisions. Folks agitating could not have learn the judgment. They might have been misled.”
Following the unique court docket ruling, widespread violence erupted throughout a number of states after Dalit teams known as for a Bharat Bandh.
Months later, in August 2018, the Central authorities handed the invoice to reverse the Supreme Court docket’s order. Later, in October 2019, the Supreme Court docket restored the unique provisions of the SC/ST Act, stating that the earlier order had strayed into the legislative area.
The NCRB conundrum
The vote financial institution politics and road veto prevented the SC/ST Act from present process the much-needed reforms. Because the SC/ST Act achieved a reservation-like sacrosanctity, there was a dramatic surge within the submitting of SC/ST Act circumstances, as per the Nationwide Crime Information Bureau of India (NCRB) knowledge.
The NCRB’s “Crime in India” stories present FIRs registered below the SC/ST Act or associated BNS sections when the Act is invoked. The NCRB knowledge doesn’t, on the level of registration, distinguish between incidents that courts later deal with as real caste-motivated atrocities and people arising from odd quarrels devoid of any caste angle, land disputes, or different vengeful motives.
The following police disposal tables, nevertheless, do classify outcomes, some as “last report false”, “mistake of reality or of regulation”, or “true however inadequate proof”.
Nevertheless, treating each crime registered in opposition to SC/ST people as ‘atrocity’ is fallacious and deceptive, because the knowledge doesn’t particularly distinguish between which FIRs replicate real caste-based crimes and which replicate agenda-driven pretend circumstances.
Merely put, the NCRB knowledge displays any case registered below the SC/ST Act, quite than independently verifying or filtering whether or not every case concerned a confirmed, direct caste-based motivation. The NCRB merely information or compiles the info it receives from varied state and UT police departments. It doesn’t audit or probe or in any means re-evaluate the foundational intent of an FIR earlier than publishing numbers.
As per a written reply in Parliament by the Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, circumstances registered below the SC/ST Act stood at 45,995 in 2020, of which 36,178 have been chargesheeted, 17,113 remained below investigation on the year-end, and a pair of,613 led to conviction. Equally, a complete of 61,925 individuals have been arrested that 12 months, 75,238 have been chargesheeted, and 4,855 have been convicted, whereas 177,379 circumstances remained pending trial at year-end.
In the meantime, in 2021, circumstances filed below the SC/ST Act stood at round 45,800 to 46,100, with 37,123 chargesheeted and about 16,300 to 16,400 pending investigation. The convictions elevated to 2,848, with arrests totalling roughly 58,700 to 58,800, and round 74,000 to 74,100 individuals have been chargesheeted. The pending trials surged additional to round 2,05,800 to 2,06,000, and 5,141 individuals have been convicted.
In 2022, SC/ST Act case registrations elevated dramatically to 52,866 circumstances, with roughly 42,000 to 42,900 chargesheeted and about 17,000 to 17,200 circumstances pending investigation. The convictions doubled from the earlier 12 months to 4,876. The arrests numbered round 65,000 to 65,150, individuals chargesheeted numbered between 84,074 and 84,145, and individuals convicted rose sharply to roughly 9,070 to 9,080. The circumstances pending trial rose to between 233,500 and 233,750.
The 12 months 2023 witnessed a five-year excessive with registration of 53,372 SC/ST Act circumstances, of which 45,439 have been chargesheeted, 14,634 have been pending investigation, and convictions stood at 4,691. Whole arrests stood at 61,747. In 2024, circumstances got here right down to 48, 669, although convictions rose to five,192.
Between 2018 and 2022, conviction and charge-sheeting charges have remained low regardless of an increase in case numbers, with conviction charges falling from 39-40% in 2020 to 32-33% in 2022. As well as, 60% of circumstances registered below the SC/ST Act led to acquittal or discharge.
Between the years 2019 and 2023, whereas complete reported atrocities in opposition to Scheduled Castes surged to a five-year peak of 53,372 circumstances in 2023, round 14% to fifteen% of all disposed circumstances yearly have been primarily concluded with out reaching trial below these last closure report grounds.
In 2020, the Rajasthan Police declared that greater than 40% of circumstances filed below the SC/ST Act have been pretend.
The bulk-acquittal final result throughout the board signifies {that a} vital share of circumstances registered below the SC/ST Act have been by no means caste-based atrocities to start with.
Whereas in some circumstances it might be true that there was a shoddy investigation or maybe a cover-up to avoid wasting the perpetrators, or witnesses flip hostile after out-of-court ‘settlement’, the persistently low conviction charges and excessive last report closures point out a systemic misuse and weaponisation of a regulation meant for cover from caste-based atrocities, for caste-based vengeance and monetary features.
Main circumstances whereby the court docket discovered blatant misuse of the SC/ST Act provisions
Within the wake of the rampant weaponisation of the SC/ST Act, folks belonging to the final and the OBC class have begun fearing any legit public criticism of matters ‘delicate’ to the SC or ST group, be it caste-based reservations, reforms in reservations, Dr BR Ambedkar or the blatant Hinduphobia displayed by a piece of ‘Ambedkarites’.
There have additionally been incidents whereby people have been threatened with pretend SC/ST Act circumstances out of sheer hatred for the final class people, for coercing others into beneficial land dispute settlements or for compensation.
In 2020, folks in a village within the Firozabad district in Uttar Pradesh fled the village as a result of pretend circumstances registered in opposition to them below the SC/ST Act. Reports mentioned that residents of Gothua village had bought their houses and moved to different locations as a result of harassment from pretend circumstances. Villagers have written on the surface partitions and doorways of their homes that they are going to be bought.
BJP chief who was killed over a petty dispute was falsely implicated below the SC/ST Act
In March 2021, Dhirendra Bahadur Singh, a 52-year-old sales space president of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, was found brutally killed in Pithapur Malak village within the Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. It was alleged that the homicide was a fallout of a dispute between two events over sugarcane. Singh had intervened within the dispute between two folks over chopping sugarcane from a subject with out permission.
Whereas the problem appeared to have been resolved, Dhirendra was later crushed to dying by two brothers, Ranjeet and Vipin Saroj, of the close by Hatsara Mangapur village after he tried to intervene of their battle. Dhirendra Singh’s killers have beforehand tried to implicate Singh in a false SC/ST case. It was reported that locals alleged that the accused typically misused the Act to threaten the folks of the village.
Girl abused and molested, threatened with pretend case below the Act when she resisted
In late March 2021, Narendra Kumar Nirmal, a trainer belonging to the SC/ST group, was accused of threatening a girl with a pretend case below the Act if she resisted molestation. The incident occurred in Samaspur Salwara village, falling below the Manikpur police station space of Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Maratha woman falsely booked below the SC/ST Act for opposing the vandalism of a Hindu temple
In March 2021, it was reported from Maharashtra {that a} younger Maratha woman was molested, brutally crushed up and booked below the SC/ST Act for opposing the vandalism of a Hindu temple. A mob of 15-20 folks had reportedly attacked her genitals and different delicate physique elements with stones.
The sufferer’s household had alleged that some Dalit locals within the village tried to demolish their Hindu temple, in a bid to construct an Ambedkarite temple. The sufferer had resisted these makes an attempt. The Maratha woman was crushed, flogged, her genitals have been mutilated, and he or she was additionally booked below the SC/ST Act.
Brahmin man Vishnu Tiwari wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years on false costs of rape and SC/ST Act
In February 2021, a Brahmin man named Vishnu Tiwari was let out by the Allahabad Excessive Court docket after he spent 20 years in jail on false costs of rape and the SC/ST Act.
Tiwari, a resident of Lalitpur village, was booked on costs of rape, sexual exploitation, and felony intimidation below the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and different sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, when a girl from Silawan village, which is 30 km away from his place, accused him of raping her. He was held responsible by a trial court docket and sentenced to life imprisonment on the age of 23 within the 12 months 2000. Within the 20 years he spent in jail, Tiwari misplaced all his members of the family.
The Court docket’s acquittal was primarily based on the medical examination report, which mentioned that no sperm or accidents have been discovered on the prosecutrix, who was 5 months pregnant on the time. Her testimony additionally indicated that she was not a ‘stellar witness’.
Skilled disagreement, office grievances can’t be routinely charged below SC ST Act, until particular casteist abuse in public: Calcutta HC
In February 2026, the Calcutta Excessive Court docket acknowledged in an order that each one varieties {of professional} disagreements, administrative disputes or situations of dealing with office humiliation can not routinely appeal to offences below the SC ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, until there’s clear caste-based insult or abuse in public view.
The HC quashed proceedings against a Sanskrit professor below the SC ST Act, saying that although the complainant belongs to the SC group, the incident of altercation and insult can’t be known as a caste-based atrocity and doesn’t come below Part 3 (1)(r) of the Act.
The professor has a PhD in Sanskrit and had served as Head of the Division of Sanskrit at Sanskrit School & College. She was accused by an assistant professor of the identical college, who belongs to the SC group, {of professional} jealousy and harassment.
The complainant had alleged that the accused had excluded him from departmental selections, stopped his lessons, obstructed him from performing his departmental duties and insulted him throughout an internet assembly utilizing objectionable language. He had alleged that the HOD’s behaviour was motivated by his caste id. The court docket, nevertheless, discovered no substance on this declare, and thus put aside the fees below SC -ST Act.
A girl filed three SC/ST circumstances for vengeance in opposition to Mumbai professor for questioning reservation eligibility
In March 2026, the Bombay Excessive Court docket quashed a 16-year-old case in opposition to advocate and regulation professor Virendranath B. Tiwari, who was booked below the provisions of the SC/ST Act. The complainant named Chitra Shalunkhe had three circumstances in opposition to Tiwari.
In all three circumstances, the complainant invoked provisions of the SC/ST Act, every stemming from broadly related allegations. Within the earlier two situations, Tiwari had already been acquitted or discharged. But, an FIR was registered as soon as once more, this time over a 2007 incident the place Shalunkhe alleged that Tiwari questioned her educational {qualifications} and credentials for a reserved publish and assaulted her.
The court docket, nevertheless, discovered no caste-based offence, and Justice Bhobe noted that initiating proceedings “for the third time” on related grounds gave the impression to be “an act of vengeance aimed toward inflicting harassment and humiliation” to the accused, a 74-year-old senior citizen.
Girl misused SC/ST Act and filed pretend rape case in opposition to ex-boyfriend
In November 2025, an SC/ST Particular Court docket sentenced a girl named Rinki to a few and a half years of imprisonment, together with a high quality of Rs 30,000. The court docket mandated that any help she obtained from the state authorities should be returned. This got here after the convict lodged a false rape and SC/ST case in opposition to her former boyfriend as an act of revenge. Particular Decide Vivekananda Sharan Tripathi pronounced the decision.
A household in Aligarh extorted Rs 46 lakhs by misusing the SC-ST Act and had filed 15 pretend circumstances in 10 years for compensation
In a traditional case of how the SC/ST Act is misused, a girl named Chandrawati Devi, a resident of Hastpur village, and her allegedly misused authorities schemes meant for Scheduled Castes (SC) and fraudulently pocketed round ₹46 lakh.
It was reported that within the final 10 years, 15 totally different circumstances have been registered in opposition to Chandrawati Devi and her household. Many of those circumstances have been filed below the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Below this regulation, victims are supplied monetary help and authorized safety. The allegation is that Chandrawati and her household repeatedly filed false circumstances to avail the advantages of those schemes and have to date acquired almost ₹46 lakh.
Allahabad College assistant professor lodged pretend SC/ST Act circumstances in opposition to three senior colleagues
In February 2024, the Allahabad Excessive Court docket quashed a 2016 FIR registered on the grievance of an Allahabad College assistant professor, and imposed a high quality of ₹15 lakh on her.
The complainant was found to have falsely accused her colleagues of varied offences, together with voyeurism and felony intimidation. She had additionally made allegations of offences below the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Whereas quashing the FIR, Justice Prashant Kumar mentioned, “It is a case the place a Professor needed to pay a really heavy worth for asking an Assistant Professor to take lessons and educate correctly. He was made an accused in a frivolous and malicious felony case and needed to face trial for final eight years, and additional needed to face humiliation, stigma, for no fault of his personal, and alternatively, the complainant, by misusing the provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred as ‘the S.C./S.T. Act’), had been utilizing as a weapon and threatened the opposite seniors from taking any motion in opposition to her.”
Dalit girl falsely implicated common class lover in SC/ST Act case
In June 2025, a 22-year-old Dalit girl named Rinki filed a grievance at Mohanlalganj in Uttar Pradesh, alleging {that a} man named Deepak, from the final class, raped her on the pretext of marriage. Deepak, who was in a relationship with the complainant for 5 years, was then booked below the provisions of the SC/ST Act together with rape costs. Rinki filed a pretend rape and caste atrocity case in opposition to Deepak after the latter married another person.
Karnataka HC quashed it after it turned out that the SC/ST Act was weaponised in an employment dispute
In February 2026, the Karnataka Excessive Court docket quashed a 2025 FIR involving people from the Bengaluru North College, over obvious procedural lapses and the absence of a prima facie atrocity. The court docket held that an employment dispute can’t be merely become a caste-atrocity case merely as a result of the respondent belonged to a non-SC/ST class.
Even famous public figures don’t shrink back from threatening SC/ST Act circumstances in opposition to folks not appearing as per their whims
Not solely widespread folks, however even many public figures don’t have any qualms about boasting that they’d misuse the SC/ST Act if one thing doesn’t occur as per their whims. In January this 12 months, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president and grandson of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar, threatened to pursue authorized motion in opposition to Maharashtra’s Water Assets Minister and BJP chief Girish Mahajan for mere failure to say Dr B.R. Ambedkar throughout his Republic Day tackle.
He alleged that not mentioning the title quantities to an atrocity crime below the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and subsequently, a case must be registered below the draconian regulation.
Political encouragement for weaponising the SC/ST Act
In April this 12 months, Kerala Congress chief CP Mathew publicly urged ladies leaders of his social gathering to file complaints to make circumstances stronger when confronting political opponents. He additionally talked about that ladies might tear their very own garments after which go to the police, including that this could assist construct stronger circumstances in opposition to rivals. Mathew additionally inspired ladies from the SC and ST communities to invoke the SC/ST Act, saying that it could make the circumstances extra critical from a authorized perspective.
“ഒരു രാഷ്ട്രീയ സംഘർഷത്തിന് സാധ്യതയുണ്ടായാൽ വനിത പ്രവർത്തകർ സ്വയം ബ്ളൗസ് വലിച്ച് കീറണം” എന്നൊക്കെ പറയുന്നത് പബ്ലിക്കായി പ്രസംഗിക്കാൻ മാത്രം വല്യ ക്രെഡിറ്റ് ഉള്ള കാര്യമാണ് എന്നാണ് ഇടുക്കി ജില്ലാ കോൺഗ്രസ് കമ്മിറ്റി പ്രസിഡന്റ് സി പി മാത്യു ധരിച്ച് വെച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്…. 🤷🏽♂️
സ്വന്തം… pic.twitter.com/VijqFEePY6
— RINCE KURIAN (@rinse_kurian) April 5, 2026
The sport of compensation: what the regulation says and the way compensation is the basic motive why pretend SC/ST circumstances are filed
Past vengeance, there’s a lesser-talked-about motive for the numerous surge in submitting of faux SC/ST Act circumstances: compensation. Below the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Guidelines, 1995, as amended in 2016, complainants are entitled to financial aid at a number of phases. This financial aid is disbursed instantly on FIR registration, as interim aid throughout trial, and as last compensation on conviction.
Roughly, 25% to 50% of the quantity is launched by the District Collector inside seven days of the FIR’s submitting, one other 25% after the chargesheet is filed, and the stability on conviction, drawn from a schedule that ranges between ₹1 lakh for offences like caste slurs as much as ₹8.25 lakh for homicide or gang rape.
It’s essential to notice that this monetary aid is linked to registration and charge-sheeting; these phases happen nicely earlier than any court docket has even examined the allegation, and never conviction alone.
Since a considerable portion of the compensation is required to be disbursed upon the registration of an FIR, this framework finally ends up incentivising the submitting of frivolous SC/ST Act circumstances for compensation cash. Whereas restoration of the quantity after a case seems to be false or ends in acquittal, it’s not automated and is, generally, incomplete.
What’s much more alarming is that there are well-oiled dealer networks actively concerned within the systematic submitting of circumstances below the SC/ST Act by falsely implicating upper-caste people to acquire compensation.
In August 2025, a Particular SC/ST Court docket in Lucknow sentenced a lawyer to life imprisonment after he was convicted of submitting false rape circumstances below the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The advocate, named Parmanand Gupta, used a Dalit girl working below his spouse to file a lot of pretend rape circumstances in opposition to varied males. The rip-off was uncovered after the Dalit girl revealed all the pieces after changing into an approver in a case.
Pooja Rawat had filed 12 such circumstances by means of advocate Parmanand Gupta, during which she levelled critical allegations, together with rape, in opposition to the accused individuals, and invoked the SC/ST Act. Throughout the trial of one of many circumstances, it was revealed that she was not even current on the alleged crime scene and had by no means even met the accused individuals. Other than this, Parmanand Gupta himself filed round 18 circumstances in opposition to varied individuals.
Courts increase alarm over misuse of SC/ST Act for compensation
Lately, the Allahabad Excessive Court docket bench of Justice Santosh Rai directed the Uttar Pradesh Authorities to provoke an inquiry into the method by means of which advantages below the SC/ST Act and the Guidelines framed thereunder are claimed and disbursed. The court docket directed specific scrutiny into the circumstances involving repeated claims by the identical complainants or members of the family.
The path was issued to the UP authorities when the court docket heard the case of 1 Santosh Kumar Dohrey, an advocate by career, and his members of the family acquired roughly ₹23,36,250 in monetary aid or compensation throughout varied felony circumstances below the 1995 Guidelines.
The court docket additionally famous that round 10 to 12 additional circumstances involving claims for aid by the identical advocate and his household have been presently pending earlier than the involved District Degree Committee. The court docket pressured that the SC/ST Act aid scheme’s integrity should be “zealously safeguarded”.
In November 2024, the Allahabad Excessive Court docket had raised considerations over the misuse of the SC/ST Act and aid scheme to acquire compensation for a caste atrocity that was by no means dedicated.
The court docket pressured the necessity for an intensive verification earlier than registering the FIR below the SC/ST Act to evaluate the credibility of the allegations and shield folks from being falsely implicated below the stringent regulation.
The court docket mentioned this after a complainant admitted earlier than the court docket that he had filed a false FIR below the stress of the villagers. The complainant had acquired over ₹75,000 from the state as compensation. The court docket directed that the quantity be given to the accused.
Madhya Pradesh Excessive Court docket choose raises concern over misuse of SC/ST Act, says brokers get entangled in such circumstances for compensation
In January 2025, Madhya Pradesh Excessive Court docket choose Vivek Agarwal raised alarms over the rampant misuse of the SC/ST Act. He additionally expressed concern over the misuse of legal guidelines associated to crimes in opposition to ladies.
Addressing a division-bench workshop, Justice Agarwal mentioned, “If we’ve got the best, we even have the obligation to make sure that an harmless individual isn’t wrongfully punished. It’s crucial to filter out inconsistencies and produce out the reality.”
The Excessive Court docket choose additionally warned the general public prosecution and police administration in regards to the provision of compensation within the SC/ST Act. He mentioned that as quickly as such circumstances come to mild, many middlemen additionally turn out to be energetic and entice harmless folks within the title of getting compensation for the complainant. The choose additionally highlighted how middlemen or brokers exploit the authorized system by submitting bogus circumstances below the SC/ST Act to obtain compensation for the victims after which declare a share within the payout.
“Many instances persons are falsely implicated in SC/ST circumstances. Investigating officers ought to take care that in such circumstances harmless persons are not implicated and the responsible mustn’t escape. On this case, the administration, police and judiciary are missing someplace. Due to this fact, in the course of the investigation, we must always understand that our credibility isn’t being broken due to the middlemen. If we’ve got the best, we even have the obligation to make sure that an harmless individual isn’t wrongfully punished. It’s crucial to filter out inconsistencies and produce out the reality,” Justice Agarwal mentioned.
Centre proposes 40% compensation hike whilst circumstances of SC/ST Act misuse enhance
Whereas alarms have been raised in regards to the rising alleged misuse of the SC/ST Act for compensation, the Central Authorities proposed a 40% enhance in compensation for SC/ST victims of atrocities, primarily based on the rise within the Shopper Worth Index (CPI).
The minimal compensation is predicted to rise to ₹1 lakh and the utmost to about ₹12 lakh, in keeping with these aware of the event. The proposal has been despatched to the Expenditure Finance Committee for approval.
Whereas those that file false circumstances receive their vengeance or monetary compensation, these falsely implicated in SC/ST Act circumstances lose their popularity, their valuable years of life, their dignity, and so they and their household undergo as a result of a lifelong stigma of imprisonment, making it unattainable for them to begin afresh with the identical confidence, respect and dignity that they had earlier than such circumstances. This blatant abuse of the system for cash should not be allowed to persist and thrive. This pretend caste atrocity-based extortion and fraud should be stopped.
