Demand for reservation for scheduled castes in judiciary, military

Ahmedabad, Mar 11 (UNI) National Commission for Scheduled Caste Vice Chairman Fakirbhai Vaghela today demanded reservation for SC people in the armed forces and judicial services on the lines of a similar bill for that in the private sector being tabled in the Parliament.

Addressing a press conference here, he said there should be reservation for SC people in Armed Forces too, as there was in various government departments.

He argued that if there could be Jat Regiment and Mahar Regiment, the people belonging to SC should also have place in different regiments.

Mr Vaghela, currently on a visit to Gujarat, said there was no abatement of atrocities on SC people, and 97 per cent of perpetrators did not get any punishment. The victims and witnesses were usually terrorised not to speak against the accused.

He said he based this opinion after travelling across 16 states.

Over 88,000 cases of atrocities on SC people were now pending in various courts in the country as per the annual report of 2004, that for 2005 was being finalised.

The number of atrocities on SC in 2004 alone was 26,886, led by 4,158 in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 3,982 in Bihar. The situation was better elsewhere with 850 such cases in Maharashtra and 929 in Gujarat.

UNI MP-VKC MAZ PK RK2331