Caste Violence in Contemporary India
Caste Violence in Contemporary India
Caste Violence in Contemporary India
in
Contemporary India
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Intolerance by default
A political question
Weakened religion
Caste mafia
10
13
15
17
Relevant addresses
21
Intolerance by default
In India every day two dalits are murdered and three dalit women
raped. Yearly, around 27000 crimes against former untouchables are
recorded and discrimination against them is still very much alive.3 The
news is, in this regard, horrifically repetitive: dalit women assaulted and
abused in the broad daylight, dalits beaten up or lynched, shot or
mutilated, usually with no consequences for the offenders... You could
read of pregnant dalit women that died because of not being able to pay
bribes at governmental hospitals, of a boy that had an eye gouged out by
the relatives of an upper caste girl he was in love with, of an outcaste
boiled to death for having dared to argue with his boss... National,
mainstream newspapers like The Times of India, The Hindu or The Indian
Express, to cite only a few, report similar stories on a daily basis.4
2
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Dr. Ambedkar and caste, Harijan, February 11,
1933.
2
privileges rest on someone else's misery. P. Sainath, Dalits and human rights: the
battles ahead, PUCL Bulletin, People's Union for Civil Liberties, June-August 1999.
5
Perpetrators of past human rights violations continued to enjoy impunity.
Concerns grew over protection of economic, social and cultural rights of already
marginalized communities. Human rights violations were reported in several states
where security legislation was used to facilitate arbitrary detention and torture. A new
anti-terror law, in place of the repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), was
being considered in the aftermath of multiple bombings in Mumbai and elsewhere.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), long criticized for widespread
abuses in the north-east, was not repealed. Justice and rehabilitation continued to
evade most victims of the 2002 Gujarat communal violence. Human rights legislation
was amended undermining the powers of the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC). New laws to prevent violence against women and guarantee rural
employment and right to information had not been fully implemented by the end of
the year. Socially and economically marginalized groups such as adivasis, dalits,
marginal/landless farmers and the urban poor continued to face systemic
discrimination and loss of resource base and livelihood because of development
projects, Amnesty International, Report, 2007.
6
By the way, not only among Indians living in India. See for instance Joseph
Berger, Family ties and the entanglements of caste, The New York Times, October
24, 2004.
Decades after B.R. Ambedkar issued the clarion call for its annihilation, caste
continues to dominate the social, cultural, religious and political horizon of
India. The sun has set over the great British Empire; but not over the Caste
Empire.7
A political question
Even if, being hereditary and substantially endogamous, castes
constitute quite closed entities, they have nothing to do with races. The
Caste system - has written Ambedkar - cannot be said to have grown as a
means of preventing the admixture of races or as a means of maintaining
purity of blood. As a matter of fact Caste system came into being long
after the different races of India had commingled in blood and culture. To
hold that distinctions of Castes are really distinctions of race and to treat
different Castes as though they were so many different races is a gross
perversion of facts.10
That said, the claim of the Indian government that, being castes
different to races, descent-based discrimination has not to be regarded as
a form of racism, and is therefore a purely internal Indian affair, has no
consistency. Any collectively practiced and endured deprivation of rights
and dignity is racism, albeit not in the narrower sense of the word. Not for
7
nothing this principle has been expressly and repeatedly embraced also by
international bodies. In 1996, for instance, the United Nations Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) stated clearly that
the term descent, mentioned in the International convention on the
elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, does not refer solely to
race, but encompasses also the situation of scheduled castes and tribes.
The CERD General recommendation XXIX (2002) reaffirmed this
position, adding that discrimination based on descent includes
discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social
stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status
which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights.11
If you prefer, think of the caste system as a form of racism within
the same race, an expression patently self-contradictory, but perfectly
highlighting the moral perversion of this state of affairs. However, I
would rather describe the matter as it really is: a subtle mechanism of
social exploitation. A mechanism whose cultural and pseudo-religious
aspects are but derivative products, expressions of hegemonic elites eager
to promote a vision of the world favourable to their own interests in terms
of social and economic power.
Indeed, wherever human beings are forced into leaving in less than
human conditions, into surviving only thanks to activities that nobody
would freely accept, humiliated and handled de facto as slaves for the
exclusive advantage of a dominating group with no other hope than
arbitrary mercy, the right word to be used should be social oppression or
tyranny.
Caste discrimination is a political question.
A political question in its purest form that, concerning personal and
social fundamental rights, not to speak of human dignity, pertains to
every human being on the earth.
11
Weakened religion
Dayanand has proved that a correct interpretation of the Rig Veda
contradicts any caste system based on birth. Vivekananda has written that
the caste system is even contrary to the Vedanta. Gandhi, murdered by
the hand of a brahmin, had fought his entire life for the unity of all
Indians, no matter which religion they had or which caste they belonged
to.
In vain.
Before being a blot on humanity, as the Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh recently conceded, untouchability is a blot on India and,
specifically, on its leading class and on an abused religion. And it is not
just a blot, but a crime.
Today more than ever, under the burden of the caste prejudice,
Hinduism is in a cultural check. It is a morally weakened religion.
What is called Religion by the Hindus is nothing but a multitude of
commands and prohibitions. Religion, in the sense of spiritual principles,
truly universal, applicable to all races, to all countries, to all times, is not to be
found in them, and if it is, it does not form the governing part of a Hindu's
life... I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that such a religion must be
destroyed and I say, there is nothing irreligious in working for the destruction
of such a religion. Indeed I hold that it is your bounden duty to tear the mask,
to remove the misrepresentation that is caused by misnaming this Law as
Religion.12
Caste mafia
The Indian Constitution has formally abolished castes in 1950.
Among other, articles 15, Prohibition of discrimination on grounds
of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, 17, Abolition of
Untouchability, 29, Protection of interests of minorities and 46,
Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections, clearly ban the
discriminatory nature of caste forbidding any discrimination on grounds
of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and provide for proper
protection against caste-based discrimination.
Following such constitutional guarantees, the Indian government
has successively passed the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955), the
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976), the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (1989) and the
Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines
(Prohibition) Act (1993). Despite these efforts, the effects of these and
related laws has been in many cases painfully slow,15 if not negligible.
And, by reaction, caste violence is on constant rise since the early 1990s,
causing thousands of deaths.
The point is India is not lacking laws, but law enforcement or, in
other words, political will, specifically in those rural regions where the
main part of the population (and over 80 per cent of the dalits) is living.16
A many-sided, ubiquitous caste mafia is daily betraying the
Constitution, acting as if the national legislation had no actual implication
and enjoying an almost unlimited impunity. Local landlords with their
private militias (notorious the senas in Bihar) use any possible means to
preserve their extra-judiciary power in spite of any other national
15
10
Before, while and after elections are held, dalits are regularly
intimidated, beaten up, murdered... A situation complicated by the
difficulties the dalits have when seeking for justice. Access to the legal
system is for them often unaffordable and, what is even worse, sometimes
to be undertaken under the fear of one's own life. Under represented
among the advocates and substantially absent among the judges, dalits
just can't hope in a fair trial. Witnesses are hard to be found, charges are
framed.
According to Justice denied, a report on a carnage that took place
in Tsundur, Andhra Pradesh, the moral and social drawbacks of such a
plainly misapplied justice are devastating:
Regardless of the case being a sensational one awaiting justice for 12 years,
the attitude of the State Government and the district civil and police
administration is highly reprehensible. We feel that it is an intentional one of
helping the culprits. The attitude is an outcome of racist understanding toward
the dalits and their cause. It makes dalits lose faith in the administration of
justice as they eagerly wait for justice.18
Most often victims of violence are advised, even by the police, not
to file any complaint to avoid further, dire consequences. Courageous
disobedient people can and have often been exemplary punished.19 In
other cases the police prevented independent and social organisation from
entering the village to ascertain the facts, arbitrarily denying their right to
17
11
See for instance Attacks on dalits at Kalappatti, Tamil Nadu, report of the
PUCL fact finding team, People's Union for Civil Liberties, May 2004.
21
In at least two states, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, the Prevention of
Terrorism Act 2002 (POTA) was widely used against Dalits, who were targeted for
their caste status rather than any involvement in criminal or terrorist activity. Dalit activists are also accused of being 'terrorists,' 'threats to national security,' and 'habitual
offenders,' and frequently charged under the National Security Act, 1980, the Indian
Explosives Act, 1884, and even older counter insurgency laws such the Terrorist and
Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1987 (commonly known as TADA). Dalit activists are often subjected to specious prosecutions, falsified charges, and physical
abuse and torture following arrest, Hidden apartheid, cit.
22
T. Kumar, India's unfinished agenda. Equality and justice for 200 million
victims of the caste system. Before the subcommittee on Africa, human rights and
international operations, committee on international relations, United States House of
Representatives, Amnesty International U.S.A., October 6, 2005.
23
Amnesty International believes that the current policing structure
encourages discrimination by allowing police to act at the behest of particular
powerful groups rather than to act lawfully in the interests of society as a whole and
by encouraging arrest on the basis of suspicion rather than on investigation and
evidence. In practice also, the failure to prosecute many unlawful activities of the
police and the problems of victims in accessing justice mean that discriminatory
practices are perpetuated. The prevalence of political interference in policing by
powerful individuals and groups, ensures that the most socially and economically
weak members of society are most vulnerable to abuses including torture and illtreatment by police at the behest of those groups. Victims have nowhere to turn but to
the police to enforce laws designed to end discrimination. But the police are not
equipped or willing to do so. It is an enduring problem which can no longer be
overlooked, ibidem.
24
Aloysius Irudayam, Jayshree P. Mangubhai and Joel G. Lee, Dalit women
speak out, National campaign on dalit human rights, National Federation of Dalit
Women, Institute of development education, action and studies, 2006..
12
Ibidem.
Ibidem.
27
Report by Mr. Gll-Ahanhanzo, cit.
28
Discrimination based on work and descent, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Human Rights, resolution
2000/4 (E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.2000.4), August 11, 2000.
26
13
29
14
The power of a democratic vote has made them [the dalits] a force to be
reckoned with. All parties are trying to appeal to them, creating policies
aimed at addressing their concerns.31
Probably for the very same reason, any claim for equal rights and
acknowledgment is still referring to the caste system as if this were the
only possible source for self-definition and collective identification.
Sadly enough though, without erasing the caste system as such from one's
own mindset, there will be no hope to really overcome caste
discrimination. In their conceptual component (as epiphany of the
political state of affairs) the roots of caste intolerance can in fact be
eradicated only re-founding the culture of the next generations destroying
any form of caste-thinking:
31
15
Caste is a notion, it is a state of the mind. The destruction of Caste does not
therefore mean the destruction of a physical barrier. It means a notional
change.34
34
16
Attacks on dalits at Kalappatti, Tamil Nadu, report of the PUCL fact finding
team, People's Union for Civil Liberties, May 2004.
Caste discrimination: a global concern. A report by Human Rights Watch for
the United Nations world conference against racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance. Durban, South Africa, 2001.
Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination: India, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD/C/304/Add.13), September 17, 1996.
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 9 of the
convention. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination: India, Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD/C/IND/CO/19), May 5, 2007.
Crime in India, National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs,
2006 (www.ncrb.nic.in).
Dalits break through UN wall of silence on caste, International Dalit
Solidarity Network, April 19, 2005.
Dalits ostracized in Karnataka. PUCL Karnataka report on Kadakola, People's
Union for Civil Liberties, November 2006.
Discrimination based on work and descent, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Human Rights,
resolution 2000/4 (E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.2000.4), August 11, 2000.
Discrimination based on work and descent, United Nations Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (2005/109), 2005.
Discrimination that must be cast away, The Hindu, June 3, 2001.
Dismantling descent-based discrimination. Report on dalits access to rights,
National campaign on dalit human rights, Indian institute of dalit studies,
2006.
Equality at work: Tackling the challenges. Global report under the follow-up
to the International Labour Organisation Declaration on fundamental
principles and rights at work, International Labour Conference, 96th Session,
ILO, 2007.
17
Final declaration of the global dalits conference against racism and castebased discrimination: occupation and descent-based discrimination against
dalits, World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance, March 2001.
General recommendation XXIX on article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention
(Descent), Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, A/57/18
(2002) 111.
Hidden apartheid. Caste discrimination against India's 'untouchables',
Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, Human Rights Watch - Center for Human Rights and Global
Justice, February 2007.
India: after a decade of empty promises, time to ratify CAT and end torture,
Amnesty International (ASA 20/015/2007), June 26, 2007.
India: Justice, the victim - Gujarat state fails to protect women from violence,
Amnesty International (ASA 20/001/2005), January 27, 2005.
Indian government tries to block caste discussion, Human Rights Watch,
February 22, 2001.
Report, Amnesty International, 2007.
Report by Mr. Gll-Ahanhanzo, special rapporteur on contemporary forms of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, submitted
pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/26, United Nations
Commission on Human Rights, January 15, 1999.
Reports submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention.
Nineteenth periodic reports of States parties due in 2006. Addendum India.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/IND/19),
March 29, 2006.
Small change: bonded child labor in India's silk industry, Human Rights
Watch, January 2003.
Berger, Joseph. Family ties and the entanglements of caste, The New York
Times, October 24, 2004.
Chamaria, Amit. Caste a glance at reality, The Indian Express, October 16,
2007.
Crossette, Barbara. Caste may be India's moral Achilles' heel, The New York
Times, October 20, 1996.
Dharma, Krishna. Caste out, The Guardian, October 30, 1999.
Gentleman, Amelia. Indian shepherds stoop to conquer caste system, The New
York Times, June 3, 2006.
18
Ghosh, Kunal. Amend Bhim smriti to annihilate caste, Plural India, July 3,
2007.
Gill, Timothy. Making things worse. How 'caste blindness' in Indian posttsunami disaster recovery has exacerbated vulnerability and exclusion, Dalit
Network Netherlands, February 2007.
Goldenberg, Suzanne. Brutality used to keep India's underclass down, The
Guardian, April 13, 1999.
Guha R. India after Gandhi, Picador, 2007.
Irudayam, Aloysius - Mangubhai, Jayshree P. - Lee, Joel G. Dalit women
speak out, National campaign on dalit human rights, National Federation of
Dalit Women, Institute of development education, action and studies, 2006.
Kannabiran, K.G. - Moses, Jaladil. Justice denied, People's Union for Civil
Liberties, December 2003.
Kumar, T. India's unfinished agenda. Equality and justice for 200 million
victims of the caste system. Before the subcommittee on Africa, human rights
and international operations, committee on international relations, United
States House of Representatives, Amnesty International U.S.A., October 6,
2005.
Mayell, Hillary. India's untouchables face violence, discrimination,
National Geographic News, June 2, 2003.
Narrain, Siddharth. Abolition of manual scavenging slow, The Hindu,
February 26, 2006.
Rahman, Maseeh. Indian leader likens caste system to apartheid regime, The
Guardian, December 28, 2006.
Rai, Saritha. India's plan to set aside jobs for poor stirs protest, The New York
Times, May 16, 2006.
Raja, Hilda. Caste discrimination is racism?, The Hindu, August 21, 2001.
Rajagopal, Balakrishnan. The caste system - India's apartheid?, The Hindu,
August 18, 2007.
Ramesh, Randeep. Villagers fall victim to India's caste war, The Guardian,
June 14, 2005.
- Violence feared in Indian caste raw, The Guardian, May 17, 2006.
- Untouchables embrace Buddha to escape oppression, The Guardian, October
14, 2006.
Sainath, P. Dalits and human rights: the battles ahead, PUCL Bulletin,
People's Union for Civil Liberties, June-August 1999.
19
Sengupta, Somini. Quotas to aid India's poors vs. push for meritocracy, The
New York Times, May 23, 2006.
- Brahmin vote helps party of low caste win India, The New York Times, May
12, 2007.
Shekar, Nirmal. Deal with it now, The Hindu, October 19, 2007.
Singh, Akhilesh Kumar. Atrocities against dalits on rise, The Times of India,
January 10, 2008.
20
RELEVANT ADDRESSES
21