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Nine killed in massive India caste protests

New Delhi - Bid to dilute anti-discrimination law stokes tension.

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Low-caste Dalits fought street battles with police on Monday that left at least nine dead as protests against a Supreme Court rights ruling swept across large swathes of India.
Protesters clashed with security forces, attacked buses and government buildings, and blocked trains and major roads. Six were reported dead in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, two in Uttar Pradesh and one in Rajasthan, police said.
Madhya Pradesh was one of the worst hit but Rishi Kumar Shukla, director general of the state police, said the protests had been brought "under control".
A curfew was imposed in parts of Gwalior due to the unrest, said Anshuman Yadav, police inspector general for the city. The death in Uttar Pradesh was in Muzaffarnagar. "Some 30 police and about 30-35 protesters were also injured, one of them seriously," said Praveen Kumar, the state police deputy inspector general.
Rahul Prakash, superintendent of police in Alwar in Rajasthan, said two or three people had been hit by bullets during clashes in the city. Police added that about 20 people had been injured. Trouble was also reported in the capital New Delhi, and Punjab and Bihar states.
The Bharat Bandh - or India shutdown - protest was called by groups representing the Dalits, once condemned as the "untouchables", who make up 200 million of India's 1.25 billion population and are at the bottom of the caste hierarchy.
They are angry at a Supreme Court ruling that banned the automatic arrest of the accused in cases under a special law to protect marginalised groups who suffer widespread discrimination.

What triggered Dalit violence

>The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was promulgated in 1989
>The law aimed to prevent atrocities against members of the under privileged class
>It also aimed to provide for special courts for trial of such offences and for the relief and rehabilitation of victims
>Under the Act, offenders face immediate arrests and can be imprisoned for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year
>The Supreme Court on March 20 banned automatic arrests under the 1989 law
>The court said recourse to coercive action would be only after preliminary inquiry and sanction by a competent authority
>It said public servants can't be prosecuted without the approval of the competent authority
>There were three instances where there were misuse of the SC ST Act against government servants