Crimes against Dalits rose 19% in 2014, murders rose to 744
New Delhi: Even as Haryana reels from the gruesome murders of two dalit children who were burned alive on Tuesday, allegedly by upper caste men, new statistics show that crimes against dalits, or Scheduled Castes (SCs), rose 19 percent last year, on top of a 17 per cent increase in 2013.
In addition, as many as 744 dalits were murdered last year, up from 676 in 2013. In Haryana alone, 21 dalits were murdered in 2014.
According to statistics compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against SCs rose to 47,064 in 2014 from 39,408 in 2013. In 2012 there were 33,655 crimes against dalits, about the same as in 2011.
In fact, the rate of such crimes against SCs surpassed the national average in as many as 10 states in 2013 and 2014. The rate of crime is the number of crimes reported against SCs per one lakh of their population. In 2014, the rate of crime against dalits was 23.4 and in 2013 it was 19.57.
NCRB statistics show that 2,233 dalit women were raped in 2014, up from 2,073 in 2013, 1,576 in 2012, 1,557 in 2011, 1,349 in 2010 and 1,346 in 2009. Kidnappings and abductions also went up in these years, barring in 2012 when there was a marginal decline. Against 755 kidnappings/abductions in 2014, there were 628 in 2013, 490 in 2012, 616 in 2011, 511 in 2010 and 512 in 2009.
Source: The Times of India
