Though Gujarat is very often advertised as a model, developed state, according to data tabled in Rajya Sabha, the conviction rate in cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes between 2018 and 2021 was a mere 3.065 %, much lower than the national average. According to data acquired under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, acts of discrimination in urban Gujarat are extremely high as well. Ahmedabad city reported 189 cases – the highest number in the state – of atrocities against SC people in 2022. The state recorded a total of 1,425 such cases. https://thewire.in/caste/gujarat-dalits-caste-violence
From 2018 to 2021, only 32 cases out of the 5,369 registered cases were proved against the accused. In at least 1,012 registered cases, the accused were acquitted, even when the charges were as serious as murder and rape.
The situation of Dalits is only worsening since 2010, according to the data from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Cell. The National Crimes Bureau’s 2020 report put the number of crimes against Dalits in Gujarat at 1,313. In March 2019, Gujarat’s minister of social justice and empowerment Ishwar Parmar told the state assembly that the crimes against Dalits in the state had risen by 32% between 2013 and 2018. In 2018, 49 cases of atrocity were registered in the Ahmedabad district, 23 in the Banaskantha district, 34 cases in Junagadh, and 24 in the Surendranagar district.
On this consistent rise of violence against Dalits, Martin Macwan, a veteran activist from Gujarat, and the founder of Navsarjan Trust, Dalit Shakti Kendra and Dalit Foundation, told The Wire, “The striking difference so far as the state response is concerned in relation to the atrocities on Dalits today is not even a tehsildar cares to visit the victims today, compared to earlier times when at least a minister would visit.
15/04/2025