Data / Violence / 13 untouchability cases under the PCR Act in 2024, down from 234 in 2017, and no conviction in court

Methods and sources

13 untouchability cases under the PCR Act in 2024, down from 234 in 2017, and no conviction in court

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What this shows

How many cases were registered under the Protection of Civil Rights Act each year from 2017 to 2024, what the police and the courts did with them, and where the 2024 cases were registered.

What it does not show: How much untouchability there is: only what the police registered under this one Act. Most crimes against Scheduled Castes are registered under the Prevention of Atrocities Act (55,685 cases in 2024).

Sources

  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2017, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2018, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2019, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2020, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2021, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2022, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2023, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime in India 2024, Volume II, Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7. Primary source.
  • Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE), Government of India, Report under section 15A(4) of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 for the year 2024 (cross-check only), Tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. Primary source.

Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 8 Oct 2026.

Read these with the numbers

  • These are cases the police registered under the Act. Untouchability that is never reported, or is registered under another law, is not counted here.
  • The figures are the PCR Act cases NCRB lists among crimes against Scheduled Castes. MoSJE’s report also gives cases under the Act involving Scheduled Tribes; they are not used here.
  • Uttar Pradesh registered 212 of the 234 cases in 2017; 228 in 2018, 0 in 2019, 0 in 2020, 0 in 2021, 0 in 2022, 0 in 2023, 0 in 2024. Most of the change in the all-India count since 2017 is that one State. NCRB’s tables do not say why.
  • Cases before the courts and cases decided in a year include cases registered years earlier, so a year’s convictions cannot be set against that year’s registrations.
  • Persons convicted (Table 7A.7) counts people, not cases: one case can have several accused.
  • NCRB’s 2024 edition counts crimes under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in place of the Indian Penal Code (IPC); the PCR Act itself did not change.
  • States/UTs may not be compared purely on the basis of crime figures, as NCRB says under every table.
  • State and UT cells under 5 are not shown, here or anywhere on the page; the all-India counts are shown in full.
  • The piece starts at 2017: Crime in India 2016 lays its tables out differently, and the 2015 tables held do not include these.
  • NCRB revises figures between editions, so one year’s closing count does not always match the next edition’s opening count. 787 cases were pending trial at the end of 2018; the 2019 edition starts with 1,182. Each year is shown as its own edition gives it.

Key terms

Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1955
The law that punishes the practice of untouchability, which Article 17 of India’s Constitution abolished. It was enacted as the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 and renamed in 1976.
Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act
The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, under which most crimes against Scheduled Castes are registered.
Chargesheet
The report the police file in court at the end of an investigation when they find a case to answer, sending the accused for trial.
Final report
The report the police file when they close a case without a chargesheet.
Decided
Cases the courts disposed of after or at trial: convicted, acquitted or discharged (NCRB’s cases disposed of by courts).
Discharged
Released by the court before trial because it found no case to answer.
Scheduled Castes
The official list of Dalit communities under India’s Constitution.

Changelog and corrections

Version 1: First version: PCR Act cases for crimes against Scheduled Castes, all India, 2017 to 2024, and by State and UT for 2024, from NCRB Tables 7A.2, 7A.3, 7A.5 and 7A.7, cross-checked against MoSJE’s PCR Act report for 2024.

How corrections work. Every change is listed here.

Cite this

The Dalit Project, “13 untouchability cases under the PCR Act in 2024, down from 234 in 2017, and no conviction in court”, version 1, data.dalitproject.org/pcr-act/, as on 8 Oct 2026.