Darapuri who is a dalit and tribal activist told this reporter that as per NCRB data released for 2019 for whole country, it emerged that UP topped the list in atrocities on tribals.

AIPF leader said that out of total number of crime of atrocities on tribals in the country ,8225 as many as 721 crimes were occurred in UP alone.

During this period the rate of crime at the national level was 7.9 while that of UP was 63.6 which was 56 per cent more than the national average.

Criticising the state government’s claim of UP becoming free from crime and criminals, Darapuri said that the number of crimes under SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act, the number of crimes in country was 7815 while the number of cases in UP were 705.

Talking about the murder of tribals, Darapuri said that 182 cases took place in the country and number of UP was 34.

AIPF President said that in Ubha in Sonbhadra district of UP it was classical case of mass killings where 10 tribals were murdered in a single incident.

It would be worth mentioning here that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also staged dharna in Sobhadhra demanding justice for tribals.

Regarding abduction of tribal women Darapuri said that that there were 15 cases in UP which was 10 per cent of total cases in the country.

Significantly 13 tribal women were kidnapped in UP for marriage in 2019 while the number for whole country was 54.

Talking about the number of cases of rape of tribal women, Darapuri said that NCRB data for 2019 revealed that 1110 cases were registered in the country while UP accounted for 35 cases.

At the same time Darapuri said that it was a known fact that it was very difficult to get rape case registered against upper castes which was evident from Hathras incident.

Going into the root cause of rise in the number of crimes against the tribal women Darapuri blamed the nexus of mafia-money and feudal remnants which emerged from the loot of money pumped into development work/contract. He further alleged that the morale of such elements was very high during current regime.

Darapuri said that all the exploited and oppressed persons including tribals and Dalits had become victim of such elements. The recent case of Hathras where a dalit girl was raped and killed and incidents like Sonbhadra tribal killings were handiwork of such elements, he added.

Darapuri said that modus operandi of such elements was work for political parties at the lower levels and prevent the democratic development of society and increase the social tension.

AIPF leader Darapuri demanded that all opposition parties opposing the oppression in Hathras have to come out clear of these forces.

Darapuri appealed all the political parties to declare that they would not nurture the nexus of mafia and money in their parties in order to cleanse the politics of these elements.
(IPA Service)