Image Courtesy:newsdirectory3.com
Delhi’s Dalit, women and students organisations gathered for a protest on August 6, 2021 to condemn the heinous gang rape, murder and forcible cremation of a 9-year-old Dalit girl. The demonstration organised by the Students Federation of India (SFI) along with the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM), the All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) began at 11 AM at Jantar Mantar.
Speaking out against the atrocity, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh said, “Dalit women are doubly oppressed. We live in a political environment in which caste is being reinstated into our social order with its former vigour. It is no longer a disintegrating entity of the past but is being actively inserted into the very state’s framework, and as Brahminical notions of gender and caste get legitimized, crimes against women and lower castes will be on the rise. We must resist and rise in rage!”
The girl was from the Nangal village of Delhi cantonment area. A member of the Valmiki community, Her body was forcibly cremated without her mother’s consent by the crematorium priest. The same priest was among the accused in the case.
The girl had stepped out in the evening to get cold water from the crematorium’s water cooler but failed to return. Her mother was later shown the body by the priest, who said that she was electrocuted while drinking water. The priest attempted to intimidate the mother from informing the police, saying it would complicate the matter, and that a postmortem can result in organ stealing. However, the mother did not consent for the burial and alerted her husband, villagers and the police.
The SFI noted that sexual violence against women is a larger problem concerning a patriarchial society wherein women are rendered inferior and powerless, as objects of men’s carnal desires and domination. It is more about power than an uncontrollable sexual urge.
“Crimes against Dalit women have increased by six percent in the last 10 years. It is both gendered and caste-based violence. Dalit women constitute among the most powerless and oppressed in the society, owing to their gender and caste identity,” said SFI President Sumit Kataria.
SFI Delhi Secretary Pritish Menon demanded justice for the girl stating, “In many cases before too, we have seen how acts of sexual violence has been instrumentalised as ‘punishment’ for caste transgressions. We must raise our voice against the ideology which tries to legitimatize rape culture and caste oppression.”
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