Accused under SC/ST Act getting bail in Telangana: National Commission for SCs

WARANGAL: The National Commission for SCs came down heavily on the state government for granting station bails to those who were booked under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. “I have come across many cases in the state of  bail being granted by the police to people with cases under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act registered against them,’’ K Ramulu, Member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes said. Ramulu, who spoke at the 12th annual conference of Dalit Sthree Shakti held in the city, said that while cases filed under the Act were non-bailable in nature, accused with cases against them under the Act were being granted bail by the police.

Ramulu said he found this to be rampant not just in Telangana but also in AP. He also said Telangana is not spending allocated funds under SC/ST sub-plan. He said that the state had just spent about half of the total money allocated for the sub-plan. Ramulu said that when he asked Chief Secretary of Telangana the reason behind this in a meeting, also attended by Principal Secretaries of 35 departments, all he got in response were blank and confused looks of the bureaucrats. Giving examples of some of the incidents from TS of atrocities against members from the SCs, he said that many such incidents were occurring in the state. Police failed to act when municipal Commissioner of Yellandu, in Khammam, was attacked by a TRS MLA.

He said that he received a complaint about dalits not being allowed to enter a temple at a village in Wanaparthy and of how in a village in Nizamabad, people from dominant castes were forcing dalits to part with 5 acres of land, from the 30 acres granted to them by a landlord who migrated to the US.