The toll-free number 14566 of the National Helpline Against Atrocities (NHAA) is rapidly becoming a barometer of anguish.
Reports have emerged that it has recorded a staggering 15,303 complaints from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members in Gujarat alone over the past five years.
The helpline has been set up to offer grievance redressal and spread awareness of legal safeguards.
According to a media outlet, it has become an explosive and deeply unsettling trajectory. Cases in Gujarat have risen from 191 in 2020 to a jaw-dropping 7,432 in 2023. That is a 40-fold rise within three years.
When the Centre, cornered by a pointed question from Congress MP Randeep Surjewala in the Rajya Sabha, laid out the state-wise data on NHAA complaints, Gujarat’s numbers stood out. Not merely for their magnitude but for the unsettling narrative.
From 191 complaints five years ago to 705 in 2021, the figures then exploded in 2022 with as many as 3,755 distress calls recorded.
That number nearly doubled in 2023, surging to 7,432.
Even though last year saw a decline to 2,144 and 2025 (till July 31) registered 1,076 complaints, the cumulative toll of 15,303 remains a reflection of the ground realities.
Across the country, the NHAA had received a colossal 6,34,066 calls by July 30, 2021. But it is Gujarat’s spiraling numbers that demand attention, not for their statistical curiosity but for the persistent shadow they cast over the state’s social justice architecture.
These figures must be taken in a broader national context, according to experts. A portion of the uptick may reflect improved awareness and increased reporting. However, what can’t be papered over is the volume and consistency of the complaints. Not a blip anymore but a blaring siren.
In response to the deluge of complaints, the Centre disclosed that as of July 31, 2025, Gujarat had filed 223 FIRs. Out of these, 221 cases had been resolved, with two still pending. This raises a chilling question: is the machinery of justice moving swiftly enough, or is it merely ticking boxes while systemic issues fester?
The society continues to rally under banners of resistance, a case in point is the December 2005 gathering of the National Conference of Dalit Organisations in New Delhi.
They reveal a startling truth, raw and unyielding. The nation watches, but Gujarat bleeds in silence.
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