PREVALENCE OF MURDER AGAINST SCHEDULE TRIBES: ANALYSIS OF INCIDENCES AND ITS DISPOSAL

Abstract

'Scheduled Tribes’ is a denotation given for inclusion of tribes under Article 342 of the Indian constitution to protect their cultural diversity, as they are geographically dispersed and isolated from mainland India, which amounts to 8.6% of the Indian population. Historically, they faced oppression and discrimination; to prevent this, various articles in the Constitution of India were included, which are further strengthened by the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, making crimes against Scheduled Tribes a serious offence. The rising crime rate against Scheduled Tribes remains a major concern, with a recorded rate of 12.4 in 2023 (NCRB, 2023). This study has analysed the murder incidence recorded against Scheduled Tribes and the disposal of such cases over a period of five years (2019–2023). The study was conducted using secondary data. Indicators such as recorded incidence, number of victims, police case disposals, and court case disposals have been used to determine the findings. Though the murder rate against the Schedule Tribes is constant at 0.2, still there has been an inconsistent occurrence of murder incidence, with the highest recorded cases in 2019 and 2022, i.e., 226 and 219, respectively. The study can help to determine the vulnerability of Scheduled Tribes under the Indian Criminal Justice System.