Will not allow any dilution in SC/ST Act: Rajnath Singh
New Delhi, July 18 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday assured the Rajya Sabha that the government will not allow any dilution in any of the provisions of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste Prevention of Atrocities Act.
"The protection available to SC/STs in the Constitution cannot be snatched away either by any organisation or by any individual," Singh assured the Upper House while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour.
He said the NDA government had taken every step to strengthen the act and would not allow anyone to dilute it.
"In 2015 our government not only made amendments into the act to make it more effective but also changed the rules to strengthen it," he said.
Responding to a query over low rate of conviction of crime against of SCs and STs community, Singh said the government had established 194 Exclusive Special Courts for speedy disposal of such cases.
"The rate of conviction will increase," he said. The government also rejected the claims that there has been any increase in cases of crime against SCs and SCs.
"There has been no increase in the cases of crime against SCs and STs," Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said quoting data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
He was responding to a query by Congress member Shamsher Singh Dullon, who alleged that crime against SCs and STs had increased in the last four years.
"The government is serious to stop atrocities against SCs and STs," Ahir said.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
