http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Is_Mayawati_diluting_Dalit_agenda/rssarticleshow/2626579.cms
Is Mayawati diluting Dalit agenda? 17 Dec 2007, 0025 hrs IST,Subodh Ghildiyal,TNN NEW DELHI: Months after she swept the UP polls by pulling off what had then looked an improbable alliance of resurgent Dalits and Brahmins, BSP chief Mayawati is being accused of diluting the SC/ST Atrocities Act. The National Commission for SCs has asked the UP chief secretary to explain the "dilution" of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Sources said he may have to appear before the panel on January 4. Directing the police officers from DGP downwards for speedy action in crimes against Dalits, Chief Secretary P K Misra, in a circular dated October 29, has added a "safeguard" against its misuse. It asks the cops to ensure that the law is not misused to harass an innocent person. "If investigation finds a wrong case has been lodged, action would be taken under Section 182 of the IPC," it says. While fake cases under any law would invite action against the complainant, the Dalit panel sees its exclusive reiteration for cases under SC/ST Act as "dilution of law". Satya Behan, member of SC commission, said, "It is for the police to investigate and find evidence. Such orders would only make Dalits vulnerable to threats from the powerful and the police. They will be further scared of approaching the police." Ironically, the circular is an amendment on an earlier one issued by state on May 20 - the seventh day of Mayawati taking over the reins of UP. It directed police officers to file rape cases under the Act only after it was established by a medical examination. The state was forced to issue an amendment after the commission, during its review in Lucknow in September, slammed the May 20 circular as reeking of anti-Dalit bias, given that medical proof was not a condition for filing of rape cases for victims from general castes. The introduction of two "safeguards" against harassment under the law has been seen as a result of Mayawati's bid to reach out to upper castes, and has attracted the charge that she has undermined the Act for her political purposes. The intervention by the commission, headed by Congress veteran Buta Singh and packed with other party men, may lead to a political confrontation. The "circular" marks a volt face by BSP on the Act. Just a decade ago, in 1997, Mayawati withdrew BSP from the coalition with BJP to protest against then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's attempt to check the so-called misuse of the SC/ST Act. Kalyan Singh had justified an order he issued to check the misuse of the Act on the ground that SC/ST Act had become an instrument for the harassment of innocents under Mayawati. Now, Mayawati's politics seems to have come a full circle over the SC/ST law, with her own positioning for upper castes forcing her to do the balancing.
