NEW DELHI – Following the deadly Bharat Bandh protests by Dalit groups,that killed at least 10 people and injured 65, Indian Attorney General hassaid that an emergency-like situation has unfurled in the country withthousands of people out on the road.

On Monday, Dalit protesters clashed with law enforcement agencies, blockedtrains, squatted on roads and railway line, set vehicles ablaze whileregistering their anger against the dilution of the SC/ST Act. Reports ofchaotic protests emerged from Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Odisha.

On March 20, the top court diluted the stringent provisions of SC/ST Act inan effort to protect honest public servants discharging bonafide dutiesfrom being blackmailed with false cases under the SC/ST Act.

This did not go down well with SC-ST groups, Dalits and Opposition, whoclaim that it will lead to more discrimination and crimes against thebackward community.