Despite Article 17 and the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, untouchability persists in new symbolic forms. Critically examine whether legal guarantees alone can abolish it.

Article 17 abolishes untouchability, forbids its practice "in any form" and makes enforcing any disability arising from it a punishable offence [1]. Yet a "purification" ritual was recently held at Haldwani's Ramlila Ground after a rally by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit leader. Such rituals show that the practice has moved from exclusion to symbolism. The law is necessary but not sufficient.

Strengths of the legal framework

• Applies to private persons too: unlike most Fundamental Rights, Article 17 binds citizens as well as the State [1].
• Wide scope: the PCR Act punishes denial of religious, social and economic access, forced degrading work, and insults to SCs "on the ground of untouchability" by words or by visible acts [2].
• Burden of proof on the accused: under Section 12, courts presume that an offence against an SC member was committed because of untouchability. The accused must then prove a claim like "cleansing ideas" [2].
• Changed public norms: open practices like separate wells or bans on temple entry are now illegal and socially shameful. Even the ritual's defenders denied a caste motive.

Limits of law alone

• Under-reporting and backlog: only 24 PCR cases were registered in 2023, while 965 are pending in courts [1]. Slow trials weaken deterrence.
• Police reluctance: the PCR Act's offences are cognisable, so police can register a case without a magistrate's order [2]. Yet the Haldwani FIR came only after political pressure, and it was filed in Bengaluru, not Uttarakhand.
• Statutory duties left unused: Section 15A requires special courts, committees, area surveys and an annual report to Parliament [2]. States carry these out unevenly, and periodic MoSJE reviews keep finding the same pendency gaps [3].
• Social sanction: caste ideas of purity survive in private belief, and criminal law cannot change conscience.

Way forward

• Set up special courts and track FIR delays through State-wise data.
• Use collective fines on localities where group rituals or boycotts take place [2].
• Have the NCSC inquire early in such cases, and run awareness drives in schools and panchayats.

Legal guarantees have pushed untouchability out of public life, but they have not yet been fully enforced. Laws that are used, together with social reform as Ambedkar envisioned it, can realise the Preamble's promise of fraternity and the dignity of the individual.