Death toll in MP protests rises to 7

Internet services in the state have been clamped down since 5 pm on Sunday and will remain suspended till 11 pm today.

The Supreme Court will later in the day hear the review plea filed by the government.

Caste violence continues to be a problem in the country.

At political front, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that government was committed to preserving SC/ST rights and guaranteeing Dalits and other low caste population full protection of law. With this new Supreme Court order, these legal obligations have ended.

Raja Chauhan was allegedly captured on camera for firing at the people during the protest.

According to IANS, police said three deaths each had been reported from Gwalior and Bhind districts and one in Morena district.

The bishop, who heads Berhampur Diocese in Odisha state, told ucanews.com that the law was passed 30 years ago after decades of victimization of the Dalits and indigenous people.

Not all the protests were violent or as large in scale, with peaceful demonstrations occurring in Delhi, the nation’s capital. The protesters gathered at Mandi House in Delhi and blocked the road outside the metro station there, bringing traffic to a halt and inconveniencing commuters travelling towards ITO and other stretches.

Why do Dalits need protection? More than 450 people have been taken into custody and action is being taken against them. Dalit protestors broke into shops in Khadia area of Ahmedabad, damaging goods and looting products on display while the police, much less in number, was unable to control them immediately. The crowds resorted to violence and burning of government property and buses and the police had to intervene.

Asked if the government had provided any inkling of its strategy when they met Modi on March 28, BJP parliamentarian and Dalit activist Udit Raj told The Telegraph: “No clear signal was given at the meeting; we were just told that it was being examined”. Dalit men hurled stones at police and security personnel.

“We have not diluted any provision of SC/ST Act and only safeguarded interest of innocents from being arrested”.

Those referred to as “Scheduled Caste”, “Scheduled Tribes” and Dalits have a long history of suffering atrocities inflicted by the upper caste members on the social hierarchy for centuries.

The law also states that anyone accused of a caste-related crime could face immediate arrest.

It was amended in 2015 to cover newer forms of discrimination and crimes against lower caste communities. The court argued this ruling will help identify false accusations made in the name of hate crime. He added that a case under Section 307 of IPC (attempt to murder) has been registered against the policemen. Curfew has been clamped in Morena and schools and colleges shut down in Gwalior.

The court decided that police should initiate arrests only after a preliminary investigation, and that approval is required from a higher authority in order to arrest government officials. The ruling banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the said law, triggering a nationwide agitation by the lower castes.