"We have invited suggestions from all states on how to make these Acts more stringent. Most of the states have responded and we are in the process of finalising the amendments," Union Minister for Social Justice Meira Kumar told reporters here today.
The two laws are the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Civil Rights Act.
The Minister earlier chaired the fourth meeting of the monitoring committee on implementation of SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Civil Rights Act in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Union Territories of Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Noting that there were certain "shortcomings" in the implementation of these Acts across the country, she said her Ministry was working on amendments in consultation with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
Kumar, however, said it would not be possible to complete the exercise before the coming budget session of Parliament."It will take some more time."
The Centre has embarked on a challenging task of making India "atrocities-free and untouchability-free" by 2010, the Minister said.
Though the number of registered cases of atrocities had come down in many states, it might not reflect the ground realities since many victims are generally scared to approach the police, she said.
Bureau Report