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Analysis of government records shows that the average annual number of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was higher in the six years following the August 2018 amendment than in the six years preceding it. Across the six years from 2013 to 2018, an average of 40,749 cases were registered annually under the Act. In the six years from 2019 to 2024, the annual average rose to 48,743, an increase of 19.6%, according to National Crime Records Bureau data placed before Parliament. The comparison is significant because the two periods fall on either side of a major legal change to the Act. On 20 March 2018, the Supreme Court, in Dr Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra, prescribed safeguards concerning registration of cases and arrest under the Act. The Court directed that a preliminary inquiry should be conducted by a Deputy Superintendent of Police before registration of a case in appropriate circumstances. It also directed that, in cases involving public servants, arrest should not be made without prior approval of the appointing authority and prescribed prior approval by the Senior Superintendent of Police before arrest in the case of other accused persons. The judgment triggered protests by various Dalit organisations and groups representing Scheduled Castes. During the Bharat Bandh on 2 April 2018, called in protest against the judgment, violence and arson were reported in several parts of the country.

Then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha on 3 April that eight people had died in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan during the violence. He also said there was widespread anger following the Supreme Court order. The Union government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court on 2 April 2018. The government subsequently moved to amend the law, with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stating that the safeguards prescribed by the Supreme Court could delay registration of FIRs and impede strict enforcement of the Act. The Ministry also said delays in registration could delay relief to victims and that the issue had resulted in unrest and a sense of disharmony in the country. Parliament subsequently enacted the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018. The amendment inserted Section 18A, providing that no preliminary inquiry was required for registration of an FIR under the Act and that an investigating officer did not require approval before arrest of a person accused of an offence under the Act, where such arrest was considered necessary.

The amendment came into force on 20 August 2018. Against this legal backdrop, the registration data for the two six-year periods shows a higher average after the amendment. The figures do not mean that 40,749 cases were registered in every year from 2013 to 2018 or that 48,743 were registered in every year from 2019 to 2024. They are the respective six-year annual averages. NCRB data shows that 39,346 cases were registered under the Act for offences against Scheduled Castes in 2013, 40,300 in 2014 and 38,564 in 2015. The corresponding figures were 40,774 in 2016, 42,969 in 2017 and 42,539 in 2018. The six-year total was 244,492, producing an annual average of 40,748.7. In the following six years, the official Act-specific series records 45,948 cases in 2019, 45,995 in 2020, 45,610 in 2021, 52,866 in 2022, 53,372 in 2023 and 48,669 in 2024. The six-year total was 292,460, producing an annual average of 48,743.3. The difference between the two averages is 7,994.6 cases a year, or 19.6%. The increase was not continuous. Registrations rose from 42,539 in 2018 to 45,948 in 2019 and 45,995 in 2020, before falling to 45,610 in 2021. They subsequently increased to 52,866 in 2022 and 53,372 in 2023 before falling to 48,669 in 2024. The figures show that the average annual level of registrations was higher in 2019-24 than in 2013-18. They do not, by themselves, establish that the August 2018 amendment caused the increase.

However, the conviction data presents a different picture. The national conviction rate for cases relating to Scheduled Castes under the Act was 28.6% in 2018, 32.1% in 2019 and 42.5% in 2020. It fell to 36.0% in 2021, 34.1% in 2022 and 32.4% in 2023, before standing at 33.9% in 2024. The conviction rate was higher in every year from 2019 to 2024 than the 28.6% recorded in 2018. It nevertheless remained around one-third in the latest three years, after reaching 42.5% in 2020. The conviction rate cannot be calculated by dividing convictions recorded in a particular year by cases registered during the same year. Cases registered in one year can be investigated, charge sheeted, tried and decided in subsequent years. Equally significant is the size of the pending caseload under this Act. NCRB data recorded 172,794 cases pending trial at the end of 2018, 190,345 at the end of 2019 and 221,798 at the end of 2020.

The latest government data puts cases pending trial at 2,87,694 at the end of 2024. It also records 14,918 cases pending investigation at the end of 2024 and 40,614 cases charge-sheeted during the year. The pending caseload means that convictions recorded in a particular year do not correspond to cases registered in that year. Many cases remain within the investigation or trial process for years. There are also substantial differences between states. Uttar Pradesh recorded 11,829 cases under the Act in 2019 and 14,642 in 2024. Its reported conviction rate was 66.1% in 2019 and 70.3% in 2020, compared with national rates of 32.1% and 42.5% respectively. Its conviction rate was reported at 80.2% in 2022. Bihar’s conviction rate was 15.4% in 2018, 12.2% in 2019 and 21.8% in 2020. Gujarat recorded conviction rates of 3.2%, 1.8% and 4.4% during the same three years. The state-level figures show wide differences in judicial outcomes under the Act. The national conviction rate therefore does not reflect the experience of every state. The official data therefore shows a higher average level of registrations in the six years following the 2018 legal change, alongside conviction rates of around onethird nationally in recent years and a substantial increase in cases pending trial.