MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu police to submit a comprehensive, district-wise statistical report on cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, during the last five years, including the number of acquittals and appeals filed against them.
A Division Bench comprising Justices P Velmurugan and KK Ramakrishnan issued the direction to the Director General of Police and the Additional Director General of Police (Social Justice and Human Rights) while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Madurai-based human rights activist Kathir alias Vincent Raj.
The petitioner, citing information obtained under the Right to Information Act, contended that 11,117 cases had been registered across 31 districts between 2015 and 2025, of which 3,611 had ended in acquittal. However, the State had filed only 13 appeals against acquittals before the High Court, according to the petitioner. He also cited RTI information indicating a conviction rate of approximately 3%.
The petitioner sought a mechanism to ensure that judgments of acquittal in cases registered under the Act were promptly examined by the competent prosecution authorities and appeals were filed wherever legally sustainable grounds existed. He contended that delays in reviewing acquittal judgments could result in the expiry of the limitation period and deprive victims of an opportunity for appellate scrutiny.
The responsibility for considering an appeal cannot be placed entirely upon the affected victim, particularly where the victim belongs to an economically disadvantaged community and faces financial hardship, social pressure, fear of retaliation or a lack of access to legal assistance, he contended.
“The State must therefore ensure that the statutory appellate remedies are effectively considered through the competent legal authorities. When cases registered under the said Act end in acquittal and no effective legal review or further proceedings follow, victims and their families may gradually lose confidence in the justice delivery system,” the petitioner said.
After hearing, the Bench directed the police authorities to furnish details of the total number of cases registered, investigations completed, charge sheets filed and yet to be filed, cases pending trial, and cases disposed of during the relevant period. The report should also specify the number of cases resulting in acquittal and conviction, the number of cases in which the opinion of the Director of Prosecution was sought for filing appeals or seeking enhancement of sentence, and the number of appeals filed before the High Court and the Supreme Court.
The respondents were directed to collect the particulars from all districts and submit the report on or before November 24. The matter was posted for further hearing on November 25.