Online protest against ‘misuse’ of PCR Act

It is the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution, and the hashtag #BAN_PCR_ACT trended on Twitter on Tuesday.

The Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1955, prescribes punishment for the enforcement of any disability arising from preaching and practice of untouchability. Twitter users, particularly those from Tamil Nadu, sought ban on the PCR Act. In Tamil Nadu, the PMK and several caste organisation have been seeking dilution of the SC/ST PoA act.

Sai Saravanan, one of those tweeted using the hashtag #BAN_PCR_ACT, wrote that the conviction rate of the PCR Act hovers around 20-25 per cent and keeps reducing over the years. “It shows that the law is being misused,” he said. SMC Marthandan, who identified himself as an advocate in his profile, said that two generations have gone since the enactment of the PCR Act. “Now there is no more need for the Act and it is being used to intimidate persons from other communities.

Because of selfish people both the communities suffer. Hence the PCR Act should be removed immediately,” he wrote. Terming the twitter trending as a fake campaign, VCK general secretary and Lok Sabha MP D Ravikumar dismissed the charges of the Act being misused against other communities. He recounted that after the enactment of the PCR Act in 1955, a more stringent Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was brought in 1989 and its rules was introduced in 1995. The SC/ST (POA) Act was further amended and it was upheld by the Supreme Court, he said, adding that now there is no question of banning or repealing of the Act.

“If a person files a complaint, the police will register an FIR only if there was a prima facie in it. In case of the Dalits filing complaints, only one out of 100 complaints will be converted into an FIR because of bias in the police investigation,” he said, adding that the low conviction rates in the SC/ST POA Act was because of the failure of the prosecution in the courts.

He said that religious or caste-based hate is more dangerous than the coronavirus. “Thousands of people are killed every year because of such hate crimes,” he noted.