Crimes against Scheduled Castes, in figures
In 2024 India registered 55,698 crimes against Scheduled Castes — one case every nine minutes — yet courts acquit or discharge more than six in ten SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act prosecutions. The National Crime Records Bureau's most recent report (released May 2026) shows caseloads up 30 percent since 2018, a crime rate of 27.7 per lakh SC population, and 4,262 rapes of Dalit women in a single year. Police file charge sheets in 82 percent of cases. The accountability gap lies downstream: impunity in court remains the structural norm.
Sources: The Quint (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024, Vol. II); The Quint (citing NCRB Crime in India series 2018–2022); The Wire (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024); Feminism in India (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024); The Week (citing NCRB data)Download SVG
- 1.2024 NCRB Report: Numbers Reveal Miserably Low Convictions in SC/ST Atrocities — The Quint (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024, Vol. II)
- 2.High Crime Rate, Low Convictions: A Snapshot of SC, ST Atrocities in 5 Years — The Quint (citing NCRB Crime in India series 2018–2022)
- 3.Crime Rate 'Fell' 6% in 2024, NCRB Attributes Dip to Change From IPC to BNS — The Wire (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024)
- 4.NCRB Report 2024: Violence Against Women Is Not An Exception; It Is The Norm — Feminism in India (citing NCRB Crime in India 2024)
- 5.NDA government hails success, but NCRB data shows a troubling reality for SC/ST Act cases — The Week (citing NCRB data)
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