The caste system continues to determine political, social, and economic life for a billion people in South Asia. The practice of "untouchability" against Dalits–people of low status, who fall outside the caste system–was outlawed by the Indian constitution fifty years ago. In reality, the practice persists. Subsequent laws have elaborated the rights and protections due to Dalits and tribal minorities, but contradiction between the laws that are supposed to govern a society and the ethics and beliefs that rule the streets remain high. Dalits are still either landless or own very little land, often living in segregated colonies. They are forbidden by upper-caste Hindus to enter temples, to draw water from public wells and ponds, and must use separate tumblers at village tea stalls. Caste violence is rampant. In the state of Bihar, the private gangs of high-caste landlords murdered more than four hundred Dalits from 1995 to 1999. Police often refuse to pursue complaints against upper-caste Hindus accused of abusing Dalits and fail to enforce laws written to protect them. Prejudiced by their own biases or influenced by powerful village landlords and politicians, they frequently detain Dalits under the slimmest pretext. For their part, civil society organizations treat the symptoms of caste discrimination without attacking the disease itself. There is a tendency to reduce problems originating from caste conflict to problems of poverty; higher income, however, does not preclude discrimination. Even progressive civil society organizations aim to improve the lot of lower-caste people by finding them jobs, teaching them to read, educating their children, or seeking justice in individual cases of abuse. Each case is treated by giving out aid to the person suffering from a particular rights violation without looking at the underlying caste discrimination. The greater impact of such an approach is negligible because it seeks to achieve equality among people deemed unequal by society.
UP Dalit song writer paraded naked
Lucknow, June 20: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh continue to be at the receiving end in Uttar Pradesh.
After the Aligarh and Fatehpur massacres in which 10 Dalits were done to death within a week, a fresh incident of Dalit atrocity has taken place in Ghazipur district.
According to a report published in a local Hindi daily, a Dalit song writer was stripped and paraded naked in the market place by some youth who were apparently offended by some references to their community in a song penned by the Dalit lyricist.
The youth beat up the Bhojpuri song writer and made him write an apology before releasing him.
The incident took place on Tuesday in Nandganj police circle of Ghazipur district when Keshav, a local Bhojpuri song writer, whose lyrics have been sung by another local artist Nandlal, was dragged to a spot in the crowded market place by some youth.
The young men played a song written by Keshav and objected to a line in which a reference had been made to one ‘Jumman Nai’. Since one of the young men had the same name, he insisted that the song writer had made the deliberate reference to humiliate him.
The youth beat up Keshav and then stripped him. Keshav was paraded and chased for almost an hour in the market place and when some people attempted to offer clothes to the naked song writer, they were intimidated by the youth.
After humiliating Keshav, who is also the principal of a local school, the youth took him to a lonely spot and forced him to write an apology letter, begging pardon for having written the particular song.
The Nandganj police reached the spot almost two hours after the incident even though the market place is barely 8 km from the police station.
A report has been registered naming the youth but no arrests have yet been made.
The police admit that Keshav was beaten and his clothes were torn but deny that he was paraded naked in the market place. However, eyewitnesses claim that Keshav’s clothes were still lying in the marketplace.
One of the more confusing mysteries of India is her caste system. The caste system, which exists already for more than 3000 years, seems to have been developed by the Brahmins (priests) in order to maintain their superiority. Eventually, the caste system became formalised into 4 distinct classes (Varnas).
At the top are the Brahmins, the priests and arbiters of what is right and wrong in matters of religion and society. Next come the Kshatriyas, who are soldiers and administrators. The Vaisyas are the artisan and commercial class, and finally, the Sudras are the farmers and the peasant class. These four castes are said to have come from Brahma's mouth (Brahmin), arms (Kshatriyas), thighs (Vaisyas) and feet (Sudras).
Beneath the four main castes is a fifth group, the Scheduled Caste. They literally have no caste. They are the untouchables, the Dalits, which means oppressed, downtrodden and exploited social group.
The Dalits A Dalit is not considered to be part of the human society, but something, which is beyond that. The Dalits perform the most menial and degrading jobs. Sometimes Dalits perform important jobs, but this is mostly not socially recognised. Dalits are seen as polluting for higher caste people. If a higher caste Hindu is touched by an untouchable or even had a Dalit's shadow across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed.
In India there are approximately 240 million Dalits. This means that nearly 25% of the population is Dalit. It also means that in a country, where everybody is supposed to have equal rights and opportunities, 1 out of 5 persons is condemned to be untouchable.
In general one can say that being a Brahmin means that you are more privileged. This can imply having a good education and, accordingly, a more powerful position in the society. Being born as a Dalit you will be less off and because of less education you will have a less good job. In daily life it has a lot of consequences of being a Dalit.
Dalits are poor, deprived and socially backward. Poor means that they do not have access to enough food, health care, housing and/or clothing (which means that their physiological and safety needs are not fulfilled). They also do not have access to education and employment. With deprived we would like to underline the injustice they face in every days life. Officially, everybody in India has the same rights and duties, but the practice is different. Social backwardness, lack of access to food, education and health care keeps them in bondage of the upper castes.
The oppression of Dalits has been going on for over 3000 years. They are segregated in all spheres of social life: places of worship, education, housing, land ownership, use of common wells, roads, busses, etc. They are the people who have to do the menial and degrading jobs. They are considered to be untouchable. In their daily life untouchability results in, among others, the following consequences (For more day to day examples also go through the press releases).
In a lot of the upper caste (rich) families the servants are Dalits. After the servant has cleaned the rooms, pots and pans, one of the family members will sprinkle 'holy' water to purify all that has been touched by the servant.
Dalits are not allowed to wear shoes; if they wear them, Dalits will have to take off their shoes at times they meet a higher caste person.
In the rural areas, Dalits are not allowed to cycle through the village streets in which the higher caste people live.
The Dalits mainly live in separate communities, outside the actual village.
In general, Dalits are not allowed to sit at the bus stop; they have to stand and wait till upper caste people have entered the bus. Dalits are also not allowed to sit on the seats, even though they are vacant.
After half a century of Independence even the educated among the Dalits are not free to get a house for rent of their choice to live in.
Most Hindus will avoid having a Dalit to prepare their food, because they fear becoming polluted.
The government has made reservations for Dalits, so that they can enter into jobs in the public sector, parliamentary State Assemblies and universities. This reservation, however, makes them even more vulnerable in the society.
Mira Saroj: Daughter of a toddy tapper in Uttar Pradesh, she is enrolled at Delhi University but jumps in with manual labour at home when she is free from studies. 'Sadly, an educated Dalit women is almost a contradiction in terms', says Mira. (Outlook Magazine, November 16, 1998)
'We may touch a cat, we may touch a dog, we may touch any other animal, but the touch of these human beings is pollution.' (G.K. Gokhale, in Jesus the Dalit by M.R. Arulraja, 1996. Volunteer Centre, 7-1-30/6, Ameerpet, Hyderabad - 16)
The following news items recently appeared in the newspaper: 'Ratnam, a Dalit educated youth of a village just outside Hyderabad, was forced to kill 35-40 buffaloes in 2,5 hour's time for religious purposes. His family was, because they are Dalits, forced to do this traditional annually event for years. Until now his father had done the job. He had to kill each buffalo within less than four minutes without making any sound. If he would make a sound or he would fail, he would be punished severely. After the ritual was over the man himself was not allowed even to enter the temple itself, because he is a Dalit. Now it has become Ratnam's turn to take the job over from his old father. But he refused. The consequence is that his whole family is boycotted and he is even threatened to be killed'. (The Hindu, September 6th, 1998)
'Fights have been reported, between Dalits and higher caste people in Mahabubnagar, Andhra Pradesh. A common habit in India is drinking the very sweet tea, either in a person's house or outside in a teahouse. Dalits are not allowed to drink out of the same cups in these teahouses, than other do. And even, after they have finished, they are supposed to wash their cups themselves. The Dalits of Mahabubnagar did not want to do this anymore. Then the struggles came. In the same article other daily problems were mentioned. Dalits e.g. have to wait entering a bus, until the higher caste people have entered. Or Dalits are not allowed to cycle through a village; they have to walk. Dalits are also not allowed to wear shoes; any time they meet a higher caste person, they will have to take of their shoes, so it is better not to wear shoes at all. And finally the Dalit community is not allowed to live in the same village as the higher castes, so they often have separate communities with their own entrance'. (The Hindu, June 12th, 1998)
In the Indian Press nearly daily articles in Newspapers and Magazines are published. In this page a selection of the most up to date articles are briefly described and if possible links to the newpaper or magazine or to the original text is given.
3 May 1999
Embargo against Dalits still in force in AP (South India) - S. Gopinath Reddy (Indian Express Newspapers, Bombay)Dalits in a village in Mahabubnagar District are disciminated in many ways. They have to drink tea out of different cups, which they will have to wash afterwards, they are not allowed to enter temples and they will have to pay a fee while wearing shoes. Police has booked cases against higher caste people, but they remain undeterred. The Dalits are not allowed to draw water from the only borewell in the village, so they have to walk 4 kilometres to fetch water.
"They started behaving smart. If we allow them to share tea glasses, they would go to the extent of marrying our girls", a higher caste person justifies the situation. He also said that he would not mind going to jail ' to protect age old - customs'. UP Govt’s Answer To Dalit Demand For Shelter
With the rise of Rajnath Singh to the chief ministership of UP, the dalit and backward mask of the BJP has fallen by the wayside and state-backed caste oppression is the order of the day. The chief minister of UP has talked of a new role for the police. They are no longer there to maintain law and order; rather they are death squads to eliminate all opposition to the BJP regime, especially from among the dalits. His instruction that for everyone of his henchmen killed four dalits must be killed in encounter has led to a spree of killings. The sixteen killed in this remote village of Bhawanipur in Mirzapur district on March 9, in a supposed encounter with Naxalities are only a few of the many dying at the hands of the police in UP today, while 19 history sheeters, many of them charged with murder, sit happily doing business as usual in Singh’s ministry.
On March 29, Samar Choudhary, MP and Suneet Chopra, a joint secretary of the All India Agricultural Worker’s Union (AIAWU), visited Bhawanipur to investigate the allegations made by the authorities. They interviewed a number of people from the village, including police personnel present when the ‘encounter’ is said to have taken place between the police and so-called Naxalites. In point of fact, a wedding was taking place in the village at the time. Their report follows:
OUR findings are as follows: While claims as to how many died are contested, 15 are documented though with some element of doubt. (See box).
From the photographs that we saw of those killed, all of them appear to be between the ages of 20 to 30 years, and could well have been guests attending the wedding of their friend, Satdev. The case of Suresh, son of Shiv Shankar, a fifteen year-old student of the Kisan Intermediate College (Rajgarh), identity card serial number 7940 (1999-2000) is extremely curious. His identity was confused with Suresh s/o Ram Bhajan, a well known activist of the All India Agricultural Workers Union, but much older than the young boy who was killed. Mistaken identity also appears to be the case with young Hari Nairain of Khairpur who had surrendered with his hands up, and was shot trying to pull up his trousers with one hand. One more photograph exists, but the person is yet to be identified. Also, photographs showing one of the victims actually holding a gun or a rifle across the chest of another are clearly set up. The majority of victims appear to have been shot in the head, not a very likely thing in an encounter in a set of closely huddled thatched huts with alleyways running through them.
We were further informed that Pappu Chamar and Lal Chand were wounded. How they eventually died is not known. One thing, however is clear. A number of bullet-marks to be seen on the walls of the huts were clearly made afterwards, as the angle at which they hit the wall being dead straight, is just not possible in the narrow alleys where the encounter is said to have taken place.
It is also claimed in FIR 51/2001 which is framed under Section 147, 148, 149, 307, 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, 25/27 Arms Act, and Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, that the persons killed were in possession of grenades, though strangely they do not appear to have used them to save their lives once they were cornered. This whole story seems most unlikely seeing the dire poverty in which they were living. But the police claim that three rifles and three guns were also in their possession. However, by all accounts of eye-witnesses, they came out of their huts with their hands up, and all those who were from outside were shot (including Hari Narayan, whose grandmother lives in the village). Obviously, the police in the district are used to dispensing summary justice where harijans are concerned (and Bhawanipur is a village peopled by Kols, Harijans, Yadavas and Kurmis).
BECHU MUSAHAR
We were not surprised. We have ample experience of how the Mirzapur police hound the downtrodden. Our union activist, Bechu Musahar of Rehkari village, was murdered on July 15, 1998. The police refused to register an FIR. Even when he was found weighed down by rocks in a nearby pond by fishermen, the local police and their henchmen seized the skeleton and tried to destroy the evidence. Mass pressure prevented this and his bones were sent to the forensic laboratory at Hyderabad for a DNA test. The results of the test were positive and the report reached the NHRC which enquired into the case. The SP has admitted in writing that Bechu Musahar was murdered. But no FIR has been registered to that effect. He is still deemed a missing person. Worse than that, his widow Amravati Devi has received no financial aid, and even the land that she owned was seized illegally and fraudulently from her and has still not been given back despite repeated requests. Nor has she has been given protection although she and another witness in Bechu’s case were kidnapped and threatened with murder if they testified against the murderers. This case is typical; can one be surprised if people resort to any protection they can get?
GENESIS OF ATTACK
Regarding the presence of Naxalities, the MCC does have a presence in the area. The police claim that Bhagat (Debnath Kol), was a member of the South Poorvanchal Committee of the MCC; Bhola (Lal Chand) was a cell committee member, as was Mani Lal (Arun). But reports of the local people contradict this. What appears to have caused the attack is the fact that the Harijans living in over-crowded conditions were seeking plots to live in from the Gaon Sabha land, arbitrarily declared forest land by the authorities and one powerful man of the village. Also an agitation for higher wages was under way. From the exploiters point of view the best way to deal with any just demands is to declare such people Naxalities and kill a few who were from outside. Following the "encounter" (that lasted from 3 pm to 6 pm) a number of houses and shops were looted after the local people were taken away with their hands up, between 6 pm and 11 pm, when the terrorised villagers were allowed to return.
Among the premises looted was the shop of Gulab Kesari, whose effects were worth only Rs 2000. The miserable belongings looted clearly showed that the aim was to terrorise the people rather than for monetary gain. Further the bodies of the dead were not returned to their families, an unconstitutional act.
Shocking but not at all surprisig is the fact that, from all accounts, the majority of those killed had no criminal record whatsoever. The chief minister of UP had already given the go-ahead for these killings by stating that if the Naxalities killed one, the police would retaliate by killing four. The Mirzapur police did one better. They killed sixteen at least and did not bother to check on who they were. Is that the role the UP administration sees for itself, that of a lawless death-squad? This can never be permitted as long as the Indian Constitution is in force.
The CPI(M) has pointed out that there are provisions enough under the Criminal Procedure Code not to resort to ‘encounters’ to deal with robbers, extremists or even, as in this case, what appears to be people genuinely preparing to resist injustice. The action of the UP police reflects the inability of the NDA-led UP state government to govern the state, which accounts for no less than 12,000 murders a year and over half as many kidnappings and robberies. Unwilling to control these because of the politician-criminal police nexus (UP has 19 ministers who are noted history-sheeters), they have launched an illegal reign of terror.
In these circumstances, we demand that the UP chief minister apologise for his savage statements; the UP government reverse this policy immediately, hold a high-level enquiry into the Bhawanipur firing and all other so-called encounters, or be prepared to face an increasingly powerful democratic movement calling on it to resign and leave the governance of UP to forces better equipped to provide it. We further demand that the National Human Rights Commission take action against the UP state government for not even setting up a state Human Rights Commission despite repeated requests to do so, when there is a dire need in the state for such a body to start functioning at once.
It is perhaps the determination to continue their lawless career that has prompted the UP BJP MLAs to refuse to function within a code of conduct. If, as L K Advani says, the system is faulty, it is obvious that the system the BJP wants to replace it with is very much worse.
Lakshmi Shankar, (unknown) village Baikarwa.
Pintu Harijan, s/o Shankar Harijan, village Bagahi (PS Madihan).
Ram Bharose, s/o (unknown)
Tyagi Kol, s/o unknown, village Marcha (PS Madihan).
Arun Urf Mani Ram, s/o Ram Achal, village Puraniya (PS Madihan).
Dablu Urf Suresh Kumar, s/o Shiv Shankar, village Nadighar (PS Madihan).
Debrath Kol s/o unknown, village Majhakwa (PS Naugarh, Chandauli).
Sheshmani Harijan, s/o Tulsi, village Bhiti (PS Madihan).
Pankaj Urf Pappu Chamar, s/o Jokhan, village Bagahi (PS Madihan).
Hari Narain, s/o Khelwan, village Khairpur.
Narkati Kol, (nothing known)
Sushil Pal, Palamu (Bihar).
Bhola Urf Lalchand, village Nibiya (PS Ahraura)
Basantu, s/o Jagmohan, Majhakwa (Chandauli).
Gaddu Urf Umashakar Urf Avdeshkumar, s/o Kanta Mohan, village Vishnupur
