A two-day Regional Training Workshop for Police Officers on 'Atrocities Against Dalits' was jointly organized by the National Human Rights Commission and Indian Social Institute on 20-21 January 2005 in New Delhi. The workshop aimed at sensitizing the law enforcement personnel about the scale and intensity of atrocities on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities in the country and the legal support available to them to carry out their role for the protection and promotion of human rights of the Dalit community.
Inaugurating the Workshop, Member of the National Human Rights Commission Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao said that police are duty bound to register cases, investigate thoroughly free from any caste bias and bring perpetrators to justice failing which victims will continue to suffer.
The Police, as custodians of law, have a special role to protect the vulnerable sections of the population, in particular, Dalits, he said.
While touching upon the various legal and constitutional provisions that exists, Justice Rao said, it is regrettable that social injustice and the exploitation of SCs/STs as well as other weaker sections have not as yet been eliminated from our society. Despite clear provisions in the constitutions and other laws, Dalits still face problems over temple entry and access to public places of the country, he stated. Citing the recent incidents in Chikwara, Rajasthan and Jajjar, Haryana, he said, "Reports of atrocities against dalits regularly come from other parts of the country too notably from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra." He also said that it is a matter of serious concern that studies have shown that the conviction rates in cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes is less than 2 per cent. Even after more than five decades of India's freedom, and elaborate provisions in the Constitution, practices like untouchability, manual scavenging, bonded labour still exist. "It is a story of promises unkept and unfulfilled but to give up would be an easy way out and not expected from any right thinking society", he said.
Senior Police personnel from Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh attended this two-day Workshop.