TIRUNELVELI: As many as 633 cases have been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act between January 2019 and April 2025 in Tirunelveli city and rural limits, police said in its reply to a RTI query filed by a lawyer.
Of these, 446 cases were registered in district and 187 in city police limits respectively. A total of 45 complaints were rejected during the period, the information obtained by lawyer T Esakki Pandian revealed. To another RTI query filed by him, the Adi Dravidar Welfare (ADW) Department stated that 1,095 people from SC community were given Rs 11.30 crore compensation over the past four financial years (2021-22 to 2024-25). The compensation was given in accordance with the provisions of the SC/ST (PoA) Act, which mandates relief and rehabilitation to victims of caste-based offences.
The RTI reply also revealed that the number of cases registered each year under the SC/ST Act in the district ranged from 52 to 88 between 2019 and 2024, with 26 cases filed in the first four months of 2025.
At least 100 cases are registered each year in district and city limits. Activists claimed the gap between the number of cases registered and compensation paid highlights possible discrepancies in the actual number of atrocities. However, a police official explained that the number of victims who received compensation is higher than the number of cases as the government released funds in recent years for victims who were affected long ago.