The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has separately suggested amendments to the Atrocities Act, mainly focusing on introducing a provision to protect the livelihoods of Scheduled Tribe communities who are alienated from their land and are involved in prolonged court battles over it.
| Photo Credit: Facebook/@STCommission
An internal government task force has recommended several amendments to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, including raising the relief and rehabilitation amounts that governments are mandated to pay victims of atrocities under the law to adjust for inflation. Among other recommendations made by this task force are measures to introduce counselling for the accused and the victims and their dependents.
Further, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has separately suggested amendments to the Atrocities Act, mainly focusing on introducing a provision to protect the livelihoods of Scheduled Tribe communities who are alienated from their land and are involved in prolonged court battles over it. The NCST has also called for measures to check the registration of “counter FIRs” against those who end up reporting atrocity cases to the police.
In a report submitted to the government on July 31, the task force, headed by the Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, drafted suggested amendments to the rules framed under the SC/ST Act, which was last amended in 2018 in response to widespread protests from SC and ST communities across the country against a Supreme Court ruling that held that prior permission was required to make arrests in such cases and that anticipatory bail could be granted.
According to government officials, the recommendations also include measures to establish special relief and rehabilitation cells in States and Union Territories. One official told The Hindu that the idea under discussion at the task force meetings was to increase the relief and rehabilitation amounts in accordance with inflation.
Currently, the relief and rehabilitation amount ranges from ₹85,000 to ₹8.25 lakh, depending on the seriousness of the crimes under the Atrocities Act and the degree of injuries and harm suffered by the victims and their dependents. These amounts were set in 2016. Apart from provisions related to relief and rehabilitation, the task force has also suggested amendments that require FIRs and chargesheets in such cases to be sent to government officials concerned within 24 hours.
The move to initiate discussions on possible amendments comes as the anti-reservation movement under the “reservation hatao andolan” banner is growing to also campaign for other issues faced by the “general category” in India, including the alleged “misuse” of the Atrocity Act. General category activists and anti-reservation campaigners have argued that the law “incentivises fake cases”, among other things.
However, a senior government official said the recommendations have been submitted to the Social Justice Ministry and are subject to review by the government. More information will be made public if the amendments are accepted, the official said.
No means of livelihoods
On the NCST suggestions, another government official said that in several cases, tribals fighting court battles after being dispossessed of their lands have no recourse for livelihoods as they lose access to the land in the meantime. “One suggestion was made to include a provision that allows the local official, like the DM, to intervene and allow the tribals to use the land for livelihood while the court dispute continues,” the official said.
The official added that “counter FIRs” were another important issue that needed to be addressed. In many cases, victims are intimidated through registration of counter FIRs after they report an atrocity to the police, the official said. “There should be a measure to randomly check the final reports filed by the police when they close an atrocity FIR and the final reports in the counter FIRs to check if the procedure was followed,” the official said.
The current set of recommendations was made by a task force constituted with the approval of Union Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar in December, 2025. This task force had representation from the Law Ministry, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Tribal Affairs Ministry, the National Commissions for SCs and STs, and Social Justice Department officials of Bihar, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.
In response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Ministry of Social Justice said the task force’s recommendations will be discussed with State and Union Territory governments, and other stakeholders “as appropriate” before finalising such amendments. It went on to note that any amendments to the rules will be considered only in accordance with the Act, adding that care would be taken to “ensure that such amendment does not dilute the protective framework, investigation procedures, or the provisions relating to relief and rehabilitation guaranteed under the Act”.
Published – August 12, 2026 12:45 am IST
