Dalit Lives Matter

Farva Nadim
Oct 4, 2020
7 min read

Updated: Oct 12, 2020

The term Dalit refers to ‘oppressed,’ ‘broken’ or ‘crushed’ to the extent of losing one’s original identity. As of late, the name has been adopted by the people otherwise referred to as ‘Harijans’ or untouchables, and has come to symbolize a movement for change and a call to eradicate centuries-old oppression under the caste system of India.

In legal and constitutional terms, Dalits are classified as scheduled castes. While the practice of untouchability has been revoked and declared illegal by Article 17 of the constitution of India, the mass segregation and discrimination against Dalits is still rampant. Currently, there are over 200 million Dalits in the country who are everyday subjects of oppression, torture, and prejudice.

Historical Context:

India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. The concept of caste can be traced back to the sacred Hindu text ‘Manusmriti’ from the 2nd century BCE. The caste system encompasses a complex ordering of social groups on the basis of ritual and religious purity and impurity.

A person is considered a member of the caste into which he or she is born and remains within that caste until death. In order of precedence, there are Brahmins (priests and teachers), the Kshatriyas (rulers and soldiers), the Vaisyas (merchants and traders), and the Shudras (laborers and artisans).

A fifth category falls outside the system and consists of those known as “untouchables” or Dalits; they are often assigned tasks too ritually polluting to merit inclusion within the traditional Varna system.

Untouchability and Segregation:

With little land of their own to cultivate, Dalit men, women, and children numbering in the tens of millions work as agricultural laborers for a few kilograms of rice or Rs. 15 to Rs. 35 a day. Most live on the brink of destitution, barely able to feed their families and unable to send their children to school or break away from cycles of debt bondage that are passed on from generation to generation.

At the end of day they return to a hut in their Dalit colony with no electricity, kilometers away from the nearest water source, and segregated from all non-Dalits, known as caste Hindus. They are forbidden by caste Hindus to enter places of worship, to draw water from public wells, or to wear shoes in caste Hindu presence. They are made to dig the village graves, dispose of dead animals, clean human waste with their bare hands, and to wash and use separate tea tumblers at neighborhood tea stalls, all because—due to their caste status—they are deemed polluting and therefore “untouchable.”

According to an activist working with Dalit communities in the Villapuram district of Tamil Nadu, all 120 villages have segregated Dalit colonies. Basic supplies such as water are also segregated, and medical facilities and the better, thatched-roof houses exist exclusively in the caste Hindu colony. Untouchability is further reinforced by state allocation of facilities; separate facilities are provided for separate colonies. Dalits often receive the poorer of the two, if they receive any at all.

As part of village custom, Dalits are made to render free services in times of death, marriage, or any village function. During the Marama village festival in Karnataka state, caste Hindus force Dalits to sacrifice buffalos and drink their blood. They then have to mix the blood with cooked rice and run into the village fields without their chappals (slippers). The cleaning of the whole village, the digging of graves, the carrying of firewood, and the disposal of dead animals are all tasks that Dalits are made to perform.

Dalit Political Movements:

In addition to a growing number of lower-caste-based political parties and human rights movements, Dalits have taken part in struggles against the state and their upper-caste counterparts since the 1960s to claim their rights; several of these movements have used arms and have advocated violence.

While some Dalit leaders have argued that the fundamental rights of Dalits should be addressed within a constitutional framework, many non-urbanized Dalits have taken the position that their problems cannot be resolved without a militant struggle against those in power.

Mainstream political parties in India have generally adopted a top-down interventionist approach to Dalit problems, offering promises of loans, housing, and proper implementation of reservations as compensation for past mistreatment. Issues of untouchability, temple entry, violence, and economic exploitation were largely left unaddressed by the state and political parties.

The Dalit Panthers:

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Dalit Panthers, and several groups with a Marxist/Leninist or Maoist orientation, emerged outside the framework of recognized political parties and parliamentary politics to confront the established powers. The Dalit Panthers were formed in the state of Maharashtra in the 1970s, ideologically aligning themselves to the Black Panther movement in the United States.

During the same period, Dalit literature, painting, and theater challenged the very premise and nature of established art forms and their depiction of society and religion. Many of these new Dalit artists formed the first generation of the Dalit Panther movement that sought to wage an organized struggle against the Varna system. Dalit Panthers visited “atrocity” sites, organized marches and rallies in villages, and raised slogans of direct militant actions against their aggressors.

The determined stance of the Dalit Panthers served to arouse and unite many Dalits, particularly Dalit youths and students. The defeat of ruling party candidates and the boycott of elections in some areas forced the government to take notice of the movement: Panther leaders were often harassed and removed from districts for speaking out against the government and Hindu religion.

A person is considered a member of the caste into which he or she is born and remains within that caste until death. movement and the inclusion of other caste groups ultimately led to a dispersal of Dalit Panther leadership. The former aggressiveness and militancy of the Dalit Panthers have for the most part dissipated. In Tamil Nadu, for example, the Dalit Panthers of India have thrived since the 1980s as a nonviolent awareness-raising and organizing movement concentrating primarily on women’s rights and land issues and claims.

Violence Against Dalit Women:

TW: Mentions of Rape and Torture

Human Rights Watch was told by a government investigator in Tamil Nadu, “No one practices untouchability when it comes to sex.” Rape is a common phenomenon in rural areas. Women are raped as part of caste custom or village tradition. According to Dalit activists, Dalit girls have been forced to have sex with the village landlord. In rural areas, “women are induced into prostitution (Devadasi system) which forced on them in the name of religion.”

The prevalence of rape in villages contributes to the greater incidence of child marriage in those areas. Early marriage between the ages of ten years and sixteen years persists in large part because of Dalit girls’ vulnerability to sexual assault by upper-caste men; once a girl is raped, she becomes unmarriageable. An early marriage also gives parents greater control over the caste into which their children are married.

Dalit women are also raped as a form of retaliation. Women of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are raped as part of an effort by upper-caste leaders to suppress movements to demand payment of minimum wages, to settle sharecropping disputes, or to reclaim lost land. They are raped by members of the upper caste, by landlords, and by the police in pursuit of their male relatives.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, upper-caste leaders deny the prevalence of sexual abuse against Dalit women. A prominent leader of the Thamar community in Tamil Nadu, who wished to remain anonymous, vehemently denounced the assertion that sexual relations. The very practice of untouchability, he explained, was until recently looked upon favorably by Dalits. He added that in the present day, the practice has almost completely disappeared. In an interview with Human Rights Watch, he claimed:

"…In the past, twenty to thirty years ago, Harijans enjoyed the practice of untouchability. In the past, women enjoyed being oppressed by men. They weren’t educated. They didn’t know the world. Ladies would boast to others that my husband has more wives. Most Dalit women enjoy relations with Thevar men. They enjoy Thevar community men having them as concubines. It is not done by force. Anything with Dalits is not done by force. That’s why they don’t react.

They cannot afford to react, they are dependent on us for jobs and protection. Harijans formerly enjoyed their masters. Untouchability was there in various forms, but because of education, economic improvement, now in 95 percent of places, untouchability is not practiced. Thevars never say anything against them. Without Dalits we cannot live.

We want workers in the fields. We are landholders. Without them we cannot cultivate or take care of our cattle. But Dalit women’s relations with Thevar men are not out of economic dependency. She wants it from him. He permits it. If he has power, then she has more affection for the landlord.”

SAY HER NAME: MANISHA VALMIKI

The incident took place on 14 September 2020, when the victim, a 19-year-old Dalit woman went to a farm to collect cattle fodder. The men dragged her away by the dupatta around her neck injuring her spinal cord in the process. The four alleged rapists belong to the Thakur caste.

The violence left her paralyzed with a severe spinal cord injury. The perpetrators had tried to strangulate the girl as she resisted their rape attempt.

Her cries were heard by her mother who came to the spot to find her lying down in the farm. She was at first taken to the Chand Pa police station, where the police rejected her claims and humiliated her family. The police registered a complaint only on 20th September and recorded the victim's statement on 22nd September.

Manisha Valmiki succumbed to her brutal injuries at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi and passed away on 29th September, 2020.

The victim was cremated on the night at about 2:00 am of 29 September 2020 by Uttar Pradesh Police without the consent or knowledge of the victim's family. The brother of the victim alleged that it was done without family's consent and that they were locked up in their house. He also alleged that petrol was used for cremation. However Prashant Kumar, ADG (law and order) said family's consent was taken.

The forced cremation led the Allahabad High Court to take suo-moto-cognizance. The bench also asked the victim's family, the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police to appear before it. The bench added, "The incidents which took place after the death of the victim on 29th September leading up to her cremation, as alleged, have shocked our conscience."

It is important to note that authorities have changed their story on multiple occasions denying the occurrence of rape yet hurriedly cremating the body.