Violence against India's marginalized Dalits rising, new data shows

Sonam Kumari (left) and her daughter (right). Photo by Danish Pandit.

NEW DELHI — In an untidy little lane of a slum area inhabited only by the lower castes in Firozabad district of north India's Uttar Pradesh area, Sonam Kumari, 38, feeds her daughter on a stair step in her semi-constructed house.

When Kumari was a child, nobody from the neighboring upper caste locality would come near her. Just like everyone else in her family she was an “untouchable” who on contact would impure the people of other castes. Belonging to the Dalit community, an oppressed caste at the lowest rung of complex Hindu social stratification, Kumari wished her children to get rid of the social ostracization that her community was subjected to on a daily basis. Years after, she finds her daughter facing the same discrimination.

The Dalit colony where Kumari lives. Photo by Danish Pandit.

"I thought educating her would at least relieve her of the stigma. But even teachers in school caution other children [of upper castes] not to come near her, " Kumari said. "We and our children face what nobody else does. Nobody wants to talk to us or eat with us. It seems even our existence is a problem for the people of upper castes."

In India, Dalits who constitute modern-day Scheduled Castes, a legal designation, are considered outside the Varna system, a Hindu social hierarchy based on traditional occupations assigned at birth. For centuries, Dalits have been subjected to caste-based discrimination and oppression.

Crimes against the marginalized community have increased by more than 7% in the last year, according to data recently released by India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Nearly 46,000 crimes against Dalits were recorded nationwide, with the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number of such cases at 11,829, or 25% of the cases. Most of the crimes were violence against women like stalking, harassment, assault and rape. Other crimes included are murder and assault as well as discrimination like preventing a Dalit from using a public space and using social boycotts to evict a person. The rise in registered crimes can also indicate that more victims felt empowered to report to the police.

Institutionalized violence

Vinay Kumar, 37,  President of Balmiki Navyuvak Sangh, a union that represents local street sweepers (all of whom are Dalits) says that their community is expected to do all the “dirty” work and at the same time bear the brunt of injustice.

"We have to silently do all the menial jobs and bear whatever is inflicted on us. That is what a Dalit is expected to do, " he said while referring to the recent heinous rape and murder of a 19-year old Dalit girl. The primary suspects are four upper caste men in Uttar Pradesh.

Recently, Kumar along with 2,000 members of his union went on a strike to protest against the incident.

Vinay Kumar, President of Balmiki Navyuvak Sangh, a union that represents local street sweepers (all of whom are Dalits). Photo by Danish Pandit.

The rape had sparked outrage in the country after the authorities had hurriedly cremated the victim's body in the dead of the night, allegedly without the consent of her family and destroying evidence for the criminal investigation.

"There is not even semblance of justice,” said Valmiki. “The upper castes are dominant in the system whether in local police stations or offices. So in all the decisions whether legal or administrative the upper castes get automatically favored.”

He is seconded by Usha Valmiki, 45, a Dalit woman residing in the Chowki Gate area of Firozabad who believes that upper caste men who abuse the women of her community always end up being scot free because of “support” of the authorities.

"While women of the community are molested and raped, the government supports the perpetrators because of their caste," said Usha.

Last year, more than 3,500 Dalit women were raped in India according to the data provided by India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which constitutes more than 10% of the total rapes reported across the country.

Politics of hatred

Experts in the country are attributing the rise in incidents of violence against Dalits to the “politics of hatred” promoted by the ruling right-wing Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Modi.

"Whatever little we had gained in human rights and women movements in the country has been lost in last 5-6 years,” said Shabnam Hashmi, a prominent Human Rights Activist based in national capital New Delhi. “This government has pushed all these movements back… When politics of hatred and violence is promoted by the state then it becomes very difficult to work on any affirmative actions.”

While different governments in India's post-independence history have passed several special legislative provisions and constitutional safeguards in a bid to elevate the societal and economic condition of the Dalits, the community continues to be subjected to discrimination, violence and social exclusion in the country.

Two Dalit boys. Photo by Danish Pandit.

The Indian Parliament has passed a special legislation called Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 to deter crimes against the marginalized Dalit community by imposing harsh penalties and to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims of caste-based discrimination. But activists and experts say the Act has done little to dismantle caste-based violence and discrimination.

"The efforts to address some of the most violent forms of oppression through legislative measures like the Prevention of Atrocities Act have failed spectacularly because the criminal judicial system in India almost always condones caste violence, and the fact that Dalits are a numerical minority within society also ensures that the political class does not always act in their best interests," said writer and activist Meena Kandaswamy.

Hanan Zaffar is a journalist based in New Delhi, India. Zaffar has written extensively on South Asian politics, migrant and minority issues for organizations like Al Jazeera English, VICE, DW News, The Diplomat, Middle East Eye, TRT,  The New Arab, Caravan Magazine and others.

Danish Pandit is a multimedia journalist based in Delhi.