MADURAI: Evidence executive director A Kathir on Thursday claimed that atrocities against Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu had risen sharply over the past decade, while conviction rates in such cases remained abysmally low.
Releasing a report prepared by the NGO using data obtained through the Right to Information Act, Kathir said 11,117 cases of atrocities against SCs were registered across 32 districts in the state between 2015 and 2025.Of these, only 406 cases (3.6%), ended in conviction, he said, adding that acquittals and pendency remained alarmingly high.
Kathir urged Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to convene a high-level meeting to address the low conviction. “Madurai district recorded the highest number of atrocity cases at 1,322, followed by Sivaganga (756), Villupuram (709), Pudukkottai (696) and Tiruvannamalai (694). Kathir said 167 cases were still pending at the investigation stage, including 78 cases in Nagapattinam district alone. Chargesheets had been filed in 8,177 cases so far, he added. However, 494 cases were yet to reach the trial stage, while 3,810 cases remained under trial, he said, adding that the total number of pending cases could exceed 7,500. Kathir said Madurai recorded a conviction rate of 3.32%, while Sivaganga registered a conviction rate of just 1.32%.
The NGO further claimed that 3,611 accused persons (nearly 32%) were acquitted, while 2,249 cases, around 20%, were closed without proper investigation. Despite the high acquittal rate, the state government filed appeals in only 13 cases (0.36%), it said.
The NGO has urged the government to identify high-incidence districts for focused intervention, appointment of IAS officers as special monitoring officers at the state and zonal levels and hike compensation for victims of caste violence to Rs 25 lakh.