On August 13, a village in North Karnataka’s Yadgir district has announced social boycott on 50 Dalit families after a 15-year-old minor Dalit girl’s parents refused to withdraws a POCSO complaint against a 23-year-old boy belongs to upper caste. The complaint was lodged in August month after a minor girl was allegedly impregnated by a 23-year-old man belonging to an upper caste of the same village near Hunasagi Taluk. The victim belongs to lower caste, the accused refused to marry her and threatened the family of victim not to disclose it.

Boycott calls, where about 250 Dalits residing in Bapparaga village’s two colonies have been denied access to grocery and stationary shops, temples and public spaces, shockingly even children cannot buy basic school supplies like pens and notebooks.

It was reported that when the girl’s family asked the boy to honour the word and marry her, the boy’s family reportedly rejected it. Then the girl’s parents filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at the Narayanapura police station on August 12. On August 13, the accused was arrested and remanded in judicial custody, reported the Times of India.

Resultantly, following the complaint, upper-caste members called the girl’s parents for negotiations. The victim’s parents refused the upper-caste members and decided to proceed with the POCSO case against the youth. Angered by this, the village’s upper-caste leaders imposed a social boycott on the Dalit community on August 13.

A village in #Karnataka‘s #Yadgir district has imposed social boycott on 50 Dalit families after a minor #Dalit girl’s parents refused to withdraw a sexual-assault case against a 23-year-old upper-caste boy after the duo’s relationship turned sour and she was found to be five… pic.twitter.com/91FpEqWK7K

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) September 14, 2024

However, police said that that the victim and the man were reportedly in a relationship and he allegedly sexually assaulted her on the pretext of marriage.

On September 14, in a significant development in this matter Narayanapura police has registered the FIR against 10 accused identified as Shankaragowda Mali Patil, Chandappa Tumbagi, Eranna Malipatil, Yallalinga Gowdar, Muddamma, Eerabai Devur, Bharatesh Hubli, Ashoka Mali, Bandeppa Dolli, and Shanthava Biradar. They have been charged under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as well as sections 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). “All accused had fled the village soon after the FIR was registered. We have launched a search to apprehend them” said Yadgir deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Javed Inamdar, reported the Hindustan Times.

Ban imposed on Dalits, assault with Dalit man for entering temple: Bagalkot, Karnataka

A similar incident occurred in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district, in Ugalwanta village people from Lingayat and Caste Hindu communities have imposed a ban on Dalits from entering their localities after they brutally assaulted 28-year-old Dalit youth, Arjun Madar.

On September 10, Arjun was allegedly attacked, tied to and electric pole, and subjected to casteist abuse for attempting to pray at the Dyamavva temple. The victim filed a complaint before the Kerur Police Station. Following the complaint. The police have booked around 18 people including M Dyavanagounda Sathyannavar, Manjunath Mulimani and T Kamappa Talavar, belonging to Lingayat and other upper class.

According to report, Bagalkot SP Amarnath Reddy confirmed that a Dalit man was assaulted, abused and casteist remarks were made. He also confirmed that the announcement banning Dalits in those localities where people of forward castes reside, was made. He said that “We have filed an FIR against 18 people connected to the incident. It is true that Arjun, a Dalit, was assaulted by a group of upper caste people. He has mentioned in the complaint that he was tied to the electric pole. We are also verifying it as well.”

“There is no other untoward incident that has been reported post this incident in the village. The incident occurred on 10 September. An announcement was also made banning Dalits from entering the their areas. The announcement was meant to boycott a section of people. This is against the law.” Reported South First

In #Karnataka‘s #Bagalkot, people from #Lingayat and Caste Hindu communities have announced a ban on #Dalits from entering their localities after they brutally assaulted 28-year-old #Dalit, Arjun Madar at #Ugalwat village of #Badami.

On 10 September, Madar was allegedly… pic.twitter.com/ukBGHG3Cpa

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) September 15, 2024

However, Kerur Police arrested 6 people including a minor connected to the incident. The police are in search of the remaining 12 people, who have gone underground since the complaint was registered.

Dalit women tied to pole, thrashed for son’s inter-caste marriage

On September 10, in a shocking incident in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district, a 55-year-old mother allegedly tied to a tree and thrashed as her son had married a girl from another caste. The girl’s family, who belongs to the Backward Class Community had disapproved of her marriage to the lower caste boy.

According to reports, the son of K Govindamma, a resident of Kalakunta village of Pedda Kadubur Mandal in Kurnool district, had married a girl from a different caste in the same village. Govindamma, along with the newly married couple, left the village, anticipating backlash from the girl’s family. After staying out of the village for almost six months, Govindamma returned to Kalakunta a few days ago. Upon learning of her arrival, the girl’s family members and other relatives stormed to Govindamma’s house late on Thursday evening and dragged her onto the road. Later, they tied her to a tree and thrashed her, reported the Deccan Herald.

However, the incident came to light on Saturday, September 14, and the police have since registered a case. The severely injured woman was finally rescued by the police and she is now undergoing treatment at the government hospital at Yemmiganur, reported the Times of India.

Related:

Cruelty for Caste: Dalit youth, Scholar, Student targeted in shameful attacks

Hate Watch: violence against Dalits fails to get attention

Social welfare department intervenes after Dalit youth faces discrimination, denied hair cut in Karnataka

The post Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh witness shocking incidents of Caste-Based Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dalit scholar files complaint against professor for casteist slurred in UP

On August 30, Shivam Kumar, a Dalit research scholar at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), has filed a complaint with the National SC/ST Commission after facing casteist harassment and misconduct from a senior professor during an academic meeting on May 30. The incident occurred during Shivam’s viva for upgradation from Junior Research Fellow (JRF) to Senior Research Fellow (SRF) in the Anatomy department of the Ayurveda faculty. According to Shivam, the situation took a turn for the worse when he took a group photo during a refreshment session, which angered the senior professor.

The professor allegedly hurled a half-eaten samosa at Shivam and unleashed a barrage of casteist slurs, questioning his manners for taking pictures while someone was eating. This shocking incident highlights the pervasive casteism and discrimination faced by Dalit students in academic institutions.”

Shivam immediately reported the incident to the university administration, including the dean of students. However, no action has been taken so far, prompting him to escalate the matter to the National SC/ST Commission on August 30, reported The Observer Post.

Shiv Sena leader and mob booked for attacking Dalit youth: Thane, Maharashtra

On September 4, A Shiv Sena leader and several other were booked for allegedly attacking a group of people and preventive them from entering a temple, police said on Thursday. According to a police officer, the incident took place during a meeting called by accused former councillor Vikas Repale at a temple in Wagle Estate area late Wednesday night.

The altercation began when the complainant, a 25-year-old Dalit student, and others of the same caste were stopped from entering the temple by Repale, who questioned their presence to their Buddhist faith.

“As per the complainant, who is a 25-year-old Dalit student, he and some others of his caste were stopped from entering the temple for the meeting by Repale. He told them why they should come to a temple when he (complainant) belongs to a different religion (Buddhism). As per the complaint, Repale tried to hit them with a rod while others with him threw slippers,” said a Wagle Estate police station official, reported Times of India.

Dalit School boy beaten up by teacher with pipe: Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

As reported in Bharat Samachar on September 8, in Meerut, UP, an innocent student was brutally beaten by a teacher with a pipe. The teacher also used caste-based slurred. When the family of the Dalit student complained, the teacher threatened him and sent him away.

The incident is of Rali Chauhan Higher Primary School. In this government school, teacher Vivek Singh brutally beat a Dalit student. It is being reported that the innocent child kept screaming, but the merciless teacher kept beating him with the pipe. When the student reached home, he told the whole incident to his family members and showed the wounds of beating on his body.

Link:

मेरठ

सरकारी स्कूल में दलित छात्र की पिटाई
स्कूल टीचर ने दलित छात्र को बेरहमी से पीटा
शिक्षक विवेक सिंह ने पाइप से छात्र की पिटाई की
शिकायत करने पर पैरेंट्स, ग्रामीणों को धमकाया
थाने में शिकायत के बावजूद केस दर्ज नहीं हुआ
राली चौहान उच्च प्राथमिक स्कूल का मामला… pic.twitter.com/fFGAWAVYfR

— भारत समाचार | Bharat Samachar (@bstvlive) September 8, 2024

However, the student’s family lodged a complaint at the police station, but the case has not been registered.

Related:

Hate Watch: violence against Dalits fails to get attention

Social welfare department intervenes after Dalit youth faces discrimination, denied hair cut in Karnataka

Mumbai: Student Arrested After Asking Admin to Curb Ram Temple Celebrations on Campus

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A Dalit MBBS intern working at the SGPC-run Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Science and Research in Amritsar, Punjab allegedly died by suicide on March 9. It has been alleged by her family that she faced caste discrimination. Her mother, Kamlesh Rani has filed an FIR at the local police station in Vallah while alleging that her daughter, Pompesh, was subjected to discrimination and casteist slurs by her colleagues and two professors as well. The FIR has been filed against 10 people, including 4 students and the two professors.

Kamlesh has alleged that the accused used to threaten her daughter that they will not let her become a doctor. There were two complaints made to the Principal of the institute, but the same were never heeded and no action was taken.

The FIR has been registered under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of IPC and section 3 of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act).

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar told The Tribune, “The family has lodged a complaint against several doctors among others and we are investigating their role. Whoever is found responsible for the incident during the probe will be arrested.”

Some persons have been detained, Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar told Sabrang India. He said it cannot be said they have been arrested and said it was too early to divulge their name and the number of persons who have been detained.

The guidelines and legal framework available for Dalit students has largely failed them. This is not only reflecting in the consistent number of suicides of Dalit and tribal students but also in the feeble manner in which these guidelines are implemented in these professional educational institutes. A detailed analysis of the failing guidelines put in place at educational institutions and the continuing culture of caste-based discrimination may be read here.

Interestingly, while the angle of caste discrimination has been denied by IIT-Bombay in the suicide of Dalit student, Darshan Solanki by the committee set up the college, a mental health survey carried out in June 2022 by the SC/ST Students’ Cell found that caste discrimination is a “central reason” for the mental health problems faced by reserved category students on campus. The survey also found that almost one-fourth of the SC/ST students who took part in the survey suffered from mental health problems while 7.5 percent of them faced “acute mental health problems and exhibited a tendency for self-harm”, reported Indian Express.

Related:

How long will Dalits and Adivasis students succumb to violent caste discrimination before effective measures are created?

Systematic Entrenched Caste Discrimination in IITs is depriving young students right to dignity and life: PUCL

Mumbai Dharna for Darshan Solanki makes calls for law against caste discrimination

The post Dalit MBBS female intern allegedly died by suicide due to caste discrimination appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Supreme Court preferred a “conciliatory approach” in a case filed by a Dalit faculty member of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur against four senior professors alleging caste harassment reported LiveLaw. Commenting that the allegations and counter-allegations ‘damage the reputation of a premier institution’, the Court suggested that the Chairman of the Board of Governors invite the complainant Subrahmanyam Saderla and the four accused professors Chandra Shekhar Upadhyay, Ishan Sharma, Rajiv Shekhar, and Sanjay Mittal for discussions and talks. (Subrahmanyam Saderla v. Chandra Shekhar Upadhyay: Criminal Appeal No. 460 of 2023 arising out of Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 3663 of 2020).

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari was hearing an appeal filed by Subrahmanyam Saderla challenging the Allahabad High Court’s decision to quash the FIR lodged by him against his colleagues over alleged caste-based discrimination. Not inclined to interfere with the High Court’s decision, the bench disposed of the appeal, with the following observation.

“We feel that the continuation of criminal proceedings will be an impediment to restoration of normalcy and bringing cordiality back between the appellant and the respondents in their professional and personal capacities.

We, therefore, at this stage, are not inclined to continue with these proceedings and deem it appropriate to dispose of the same, with a recommendation to the chairman of the Board of Governors to invite the appellant and all the four respondents together and ensure that there are no pending misunderstandings or misgivings between them so as to guarantee professionalism and an ideal academic atmosphere in the institution.”

The bench, however, did comment, while disposing of the appeal, that the ‘unfortunate episode’ of the four senior professors allegedly “hurting the sentiments, prestige, and dignity” of the Dalit academician and criticising the originality of his doctoral thesis had compelled him to file a police complaint.

The conduct of the faculty members of a premier institute must be ‘exemplary’ and seen to be so by one and all as students follow in their footsteps. The court also observed that there was a solemn responsibility on not only the respondents but also the appellant to “ensure that none of their actions downgraded or demeaned the institution”, the bench said.

“The attribution of allegations and counter-allegations damages the reputation of individuals as well as the institution. We, therefore, impress upon them to ensure that they work together as a team in the best interests of the institution and their students, and do not allow any unfortunate and untoward incidents to occur which might hurt the sentiments, feelings, respect and dignity of each other”, the bench observed.

Incidentally, not only did the senior professors specifically deny their alleged direct or indirect role in connection with the doubts that were created regarding Saderla’s thesis or the social humiliation inflicted on him, but also pledged before the court “to never do any such thing, or make any comments, which may hurt the sentiments and feelings of the appellant in any manner” in future.

Saderla, who joined the institute’s aerospace engineering department on January 1, 2018, had filed a complaint with the administration soon after, accusing his colleagues, Chandra Shekhar Upadhyay, Ishan Sharma, Rajiv Shekhar, and Sanjay Mittal of caste-based discrimination and harassment. These charges were reportedly upheld by a three-member panel led by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, who then directed the IIT Kanpur administration to lodge a complaint against all four under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Thereafter, however, in the same year, the Allahabad High Court stayed the criminal action against them, stating, inter alia, that issuing such a direction was beyond the scope of the commission’s powers.

In the meantime, the institute formed an inquiry committee headed by a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court that found the Dalit academician’s allegations of harassment at the hands of his four colleagues to be true. Following this, the university board demoted Mittal, Upadhyay, and Shekhar, while Sharma was let off with a warning. Subsequently, on the strength of a first information report registered by Saderla, the four professors were also booked under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe Act. However, in the same year, the high court allowed a writ petition filed by the accused and quashed the original FIR. Predictably, given the caste composition of institutes of higher learning, the rest of the faculty forum rallied behind the four professions and demanded that the institute defend them. “If anyone charges them under the SC/ST Act for carrying out their professional and official duties, it is the responsibility of the institute to defend them in any court or any other place,” the convenor of the forum wrote to the IIT Kanpur director.

In October 2022, the situation took another turn when an anonymous email was sent to several faculty members alleging that portions of his doctoral thesis were plagiarised. In spite of the fact that the academic ethics cell reportedly found no reason to revoke the thesis after investigating the complaint, the Senate Post-Graduate Committee recommended that the PhD thesis be withdrawn, and a revised version be re-evaluated, in a move that was widely criticised as indicating a vendetta against the young Dalit academician for the success of his complaint.

Finally, the matter was referred to a three-member committee which concluded that Saderla’s thesis referred to material that was ‘common knowledge’ in his field of study and recommended appending a brief corrigendum. The assistant professor accepted the suggestion and submitted a corrigendum, which was subsequently approved by the board. Putting an end to the controversy, the board resolved that his doctoral thesis on aerodynamic parameter estimation would be read along with the corrigendum and Saderla was awarded a doctorate degree.

The apex court bench noted, “There is no remaining doubt regarding the genuineness of the PhD thesis, and the degree that was awarded to the appellant. His dedication, hard work and deep research on the subject stand duly recognised.”

Related:

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TN: Over 200 Dalits Enter Village Temple in Tiruvannamalai Amid Protests From Dominant Castes

K’taka HC says downtrodden still unable to do business like “upper caste”

Tamil Nadu: Dalit family in Thoothukudi allegedly denied use of road to crematorium

The post SC favours conciliation in case of caste based discrimination against Dalit faculty: IIT-Kanpur appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: NDTV

Chennai: Around 200 members of the Scheduled Caste communities entered the Sri Muthaalamman temple in Thenmudiyanur village, Tiruvannamalai district, defying a ‘ban’ imposed by the dominant castes.

They were taken into the 200-year-old temple with the help of the district administration and heavy police protection on January 30,
after seven decades of being ostracised.

Hundreds of members belonging to the privileged communities held a protest in opposition.

The village comprises 1,700 families, of which 500 are dalits, while the rest are caste Hindus.

Notably, this temple comes under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE) under the Tamil Nadu government and is built on poramboke (public) land.

The Tamil Nadu government administers an anti-untouchability pledge on January 30, Martyrs Day.

STRONG OPPOSITION

As part of the yearly Pongal celebration, each community is slotted a day to carry out worship rituals in the temple. However, the dalits were not involved in this practice.

Some dalit youths submitted memoranda to the district administration urging intervention. In response, the authorities held peace committee meetings with members of the dominant communities before initiating the temple entry move.

The night before the entry was to take place, 500 police personnel were deployed to avoid any untoward incident. Yet, hundreds of
dominant caste people gathered outside the temple, opposing dalits’ entry to the Muthaalamman temple.

They argued that around 30 years ago, an understanding was arrived at between the Scheduled Castes and dominant communities to worship in different temples, adding that there was “no need to break it off” now.

The district collector and other local body representatives held meetings with them on the spot, stating the temple was a common
property.

Members of around 15 dalit families who came forward to carry out the worship rituals took out a procession. They carried garlands, firewood, and other items for preparing the Pongal dish and entered the temple at 10:30 a.m.

While a handful of dalit families entered the temple with State protection, it remains to be seen whether they will continue to visit
the temple without any opposition from dominant castes.

DMK LEADER ‘ABUSED’ DALIT BOY WHO ENTERED TEMPLE

Meanwhile, a purported video of a DMK union secretary verbally abusing a dalit youth for allegedly entering a temple has gone viral.

The incident occurred in Salem’s Thirumalaigiri, where a dalit youth, on January 19, had entered a temple maintained by the Vanniyar community. This temple also comes under the HR&CE department.

The DMK has suspended union secretary, Manickam for “acting against the party’s policies and bringing a bad image to the party.” But, Manickam alleged that the boy had entered the temple drunk.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post TN: Over 200 Dalits Enter Village Temple in Tiruvannamalai Amid Protests From Dominant Castes appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the charge of allegedly forcing dalit students to clean toilets in the government school in Perundurai, near Erode, Tamil Nadu, the headmistress Geetha Rani has been suspended. However, the police are on the look out for her as she has absconded.

As has been claimed, six fourth-grade Dalit students in a government elementary school were allegedly forced to clean the toilet and the water tank with bleaching powder. After the horrible case was discovered, the school’s headmistress was suspended in accordance with the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The police have filed a case under the Juvenile Justice Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. According to the inquiry that was held, it was revealed that the six students were told to clean the two toilets, one used by teachers and the other by students. Following this, the education department ordered the headmistress to appear before it, but she reportedly absconded. The Tamil Nadu police have initiated a search and arrest operation for the Headmistress of the government school as she is absconding.  

FIR Filed by One of the Parents:

The incident was uncovered after one of the victim students in the school was admitted to the Perundurai government hospital. According to the police, the student was diagnosed with dengue. While trying to ascertain how he got the disease, the boy revealed to his parents that he was asked to bleach the toilets by the headmistress. According to police, the child developed a fever after cleaning the restroom, as mosquitoes reportedly bit him during the task he was forced to do on November 21, 2022.

The violation, the mother says, came to light after her son had contracted dengue and was hospitalised recently. “When I asked him how he got dengue, my son said he was bitten by mosquitos when he handled bleaching powder and cleaned the toilet daily”, she said, as reported by NDTV.

“Last week, a parent saw them coming out of the toilet with sticks and mugs. When asked, they said they cleaned the toilet, and that the headmistress asked them to do it. 40 children study in that class, and most of them are our scheduled caste children. She has asked only our children to do this,” she added, as reported by NDTV.

The children’s parents have filed a complaint with the police. A case has been registered under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, besides invoking the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

As per a complaint filed by Jayanthi, the mother of a class five student, the “HM Ms Geetha Rani singled out only scheduled caste children to clean the toilet,” NDTV reported. 

A similar incident was reported from Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur in December 2021 where during a visit to the Government High School in Iduvai village, Chief Educational Officer R Ramesh came across several Scheduled Caste (SC) students of classes 9 and 10 who alleged that they were beaten and made to clean toilets and water tanks, reported India Today.

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Uttar Pradesh: Teacher allegedly breaks Dalit girl’s hand

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In a rather baffling incident, certain ‘upper caste’ residents of Heggotara Village of Chamarajanagar District in Karnataka drained all the water from a tank, from which a Dalit woman drank water and ‘cleaned’ it with gomutra or cow urine. The incident occurred on November 18 during a wedding when the bride’s relatives from Sargur in HD Kote taluk had come for the wedding. After the ceremony, when they were walking towards the bus stand, one of the women drank water from the tank. A man, upon seeing this, called other villagers and they all berated the woman for sullying the water in the tank.

After the woman left the village, the residents of Lingayat Beedhi opened the taps of the tank, released all the water, and cleaned it with gomutra.

The revenue inspector and village accountant conducted a spot inspection and confirmed the incident. The officials later submitted a report to the tehsildar. ON Sunday, tehsildar IE Basavaraju and social welfare department officials visited the spot and held discussions with villagers. The officials told villagers that the water storage tank is a public property and everyone could drink water from it. The tehsildar also took over 20 Dalit youth to all public drinking water taps in the village and made them drink water, reported Hindustan Times.

Further, the tehsildar is trying to track the woman who was abused to record her statement and file a complaint, A complaint has already been registered by members of the community at Chamarajanagara rural police station.

It can be seen in this video how, in a wasteful manner, the water of the tank is being drained out for it to be cleaned later with cow urine, in a mindless bid to purify it. 

Dalit woman drinks water from tank in Karnataka, villagers clean it with gomutra. This incident happened in Heggotara Village of Chamarajanagar District in Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/RlYJ8bttwG

— Ahmed Khabeer احمد خبیر (@AhmedKhabeer_) November 20, 2022

In a similar instance which led to the death of a Dalit man, a group of people assaulted a 45-year-old for drawing water from a tubewell in Soorsagar, Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, on November 7. Ashok, the deceased’s brother, claimed that the accused prevented the victim’s family from taking him to the hospital. The critically hurt man wasn’t taken to a hospital until after police arrived, according to the brother; there, he died from his wounds.

It is pertinent to note here that such acts are an infringement of Article 17 of the Indian Constitution which abolishes untouchability and also are punishable as offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 under the following sections:

3 (1) (r) [intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view],

3(1)(s) [abuses any member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe by caste name in any place within public view],

3(1)(y) [denies a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe any customary right of passage to a place of public resort or obstructs such member so as to prevent him from using or having access to a place of public resort to which other members of public or any other section thereof have a right to use or access to],

3(1)(za)(A) [obstructs or prevents a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any manner with regard to— (A) using common property resources of an area, or burial or cremation ground equally with others or using any river, stream, spring, well, tank, cistern, water-tap or other watering place, or any bathing ghat, any public conveyance, any road, or passage  

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Rajasthan: 46-yr-old Tribal man lynched for drawing water from tubewell

The post K’taka: ‘cow urine’ used to purify tank as Dalit woman drank water from it appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Scissors case, 17th century / The Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collection

It is imperative now to think the political at a different level than has been done so far, to think the political beyond strategies, negotiations, and playing cards (caste card, gender card, minority card etc.). This means that to demand justice in the name of a repressed caste or a gender in itself cannot be reduced to playing cards, or doing politics at the level of strategies. This is precisely what is difficult to understand today. If the very idea of 'politics' is over-determined, or exhausted, in the strategic moves that we play in the realm of practical affairs to secure specific rights or conditioned profits, and thereby mobilise forces against forces, whether in the name of a specific caste or gender, then I am not primarily doing politics. What I may be said to be doing then, and also thinking and professing then, is something else and at another level, in another manner, and in another tongue.Therefore, what I am, and the position I assume today, cannot be understood by the plethora of attributes thrown at me, whether by well-wishers or by those who accuse me of playing cards, caste politics, minority politics, whatever. They don’t understand what I am trying to do here. I am not a 'communist' or 'dalit' — understood as an attribute or predicate which I strategically use to gain specific rights through negotiations with those in power. Rather, Dalit is the name through which the immense and immeasurable waves of injustice and savagery have swelled through the centuries and still swell; the name through which rises that clamour for an infinite, unconditional, and non-negotiable justice – and the specific rights to be secured in the domain of the political. 

This fine distinction between 'dalit' as an attribute and Dalit as "the weak messianic power" (as in Walter Benjamin) is marked by an irreducible difference. This difference is completely erased when people discuss my thoughts, my actions and my political practices. I do introduce, in writing, and in my action in the political domain, a 'philosophy' of the political which consists of thinking that which infinitely exceeds, while passing through, the strategic politics of conditioned negotiations. This philosophy of the political is not a storehouse of maxims or theorems which can be strategically put into practice by filling up their empty forms. It can’t be understood in the idiomatic gesture of regulative actions, as happens in Immanuel Kant’s understanding of moral actions. It consists, instead, of introducing into the political the messianic intensity that does not exhaust itself in conditioned realisation of specific rights.    

If one speaks of 'proletariat' now or of 'Dalit' – and it is necessary do so – it is only so that the proletariat destroys all other classes. And while destroying them, it too must pass away. So it is with the 'Dalit'. The absence of the Dalit in just society is precisely the consummate messianic instance in the name of which all political struggles bearing the name "Dalit" must be carried out. The name "Dalit" can be used today and must be used, but only as the name of the unnameable. It is not a simple name. It evokes what remains; it will remain unnameable until infinite justice arrives. Like a dying man who wants life, the oppressed clamour for justice. Our existence, in its very finitude, does not want to be exhausted in mere negotiations for conditioned-practical rights. Only infinity saturates and consummates our existence. This is why justice is the infinite idea par excellence.

We must speak out today; which means, precisely, risk our own existence. Yet this risk is also the very movement that goes beyond, by traversing the realm of death. S/he who does not speak knows no hope, for hope is the venturing beyond into the unknown. We must clearly distinguish between the officially recognised 'promotion' in the hierarchy of the academic institution and the true intellectual worth of a body of works that someone leaves behind. Only those who work at the same intellectual and existential level as the scholar in question can really evaluate and appreciate the true worth of that form of life and that work. In the later sense, which is the true sense, I am 'professor' already. 'Professor' in the limited sense – in the hierarchy of the academic institution — is dubious at best. It is often mere reduplication of social hierarchy into the academic situation. It can be — as we all have eyes to see, unless one chooses keep her eyes closed – manipulated and abused, by the technology of sheer quantification, by the political ideology that governs social relations, by millennium-long social injustice and prejudice. It is this prejudice and injustice that is the stake and that is the question. Here and now. 

Saitya Brata Das teaches literature and philosophy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 
 

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The 27-year-old Rajini Krish reportedly committed suicide due to depression. He was a student of MPhil in JNU.

Police found his body hanging from the ceiling fan when cops arrived in Munirka in south Delhi.

In his last Facebook post, Krish wrote, “When equality is denied everything is denied. By saying Prof Sukhdeo thorat looking for the questions in the conference organized by UDSF in the SSS -1 Auditorium, behind Prof. Throat the white colour projector screen recalled Jeeva’s son memories about screen. From the 70mm new screen Jeeva’s son watching the Tamil Movie “Pithamagan”. After the movie ,the lights areon, screen became white, it was first day first show “Pithamagan”. Basically Jeeva’s son came to buy Maana in the Kitchippalyam , after the Dry fish flyover Maana market.”

No suicide note has been found till now, police said.

Till now no evidence has been found that the extreme step was taken by the student owing to any issues at the university, said a senior police officer.

He is said to have been depressed for sometime over some personal issues, he added.

A PCR call was received at 5.05 PM today that a person had locked himself in a room at a house in Munirka Vihar, said a senior police officer.

On reaching the spot, police forced open the door as a portion of the latch was uprooted from inside, he said. A young man was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

The crime team was called at the spot and the scene was inspected and photographed.

“He had come to his friends’ house this afternoon to have food. He said he wanted to sleep and went to a room and locked himself inside. “Later his friends called him out and on getting no response, they called the police,” he was quoted by PTI.
 
Here’s the full text of his Facebook post.

“When equality is denied everything is denied. By saying Prof Sukhdeo thorat looking for the questions in the conference organized by UDSF in the SSS -1 Auditorium, behind Prof. Throat the white colour projector screen recalled Jeeva’s son memories about screen. From the 70mm new screen Jeeva’s son watching the Tamil Movie “Pithamagan”. After the movie ,the lights areon, screen became white, it was first day first show “Pithamagan”. Basically Jeeva’s son came to buy Maana in the Kitchippalyam , after the Dry fish flyover Maana market.

After packing Maana in the Black colour plastic bag Jeeva’s son Walks through Old bus stand road, then he hooks the right, right side Oreiental Shakthi theatre, after a while he reached Laxmi Ice cream shop. From the shop everyone looking at the black carry bag. It is very obvious that the big black colour carry bag is for only parcelling Maana those days. Suddenly people turns the faces. With that 5kg Maana parcel, Jeeva’s son reached Salem Old bus stand clock house, then he was waiting for Satthiram, Lee bazaar route buses, Suddenly one of his school friend Ramana came near to him, Ramana supposed to get down in the 4 Roads bus stop.

Jeeva’s son thought, he can talk to Ramana till 4 Roads, but when the moment Ramana seen the Black carry bag, he started to look for some other bus, he did not even give face to him. Jeeva’s son entered inside the 6 A sathiram route bus.

Middle of the bus right side window seat, Jeeva son watching the road side shops. Salem Collector Office, opposite situated the Salem Government Hospital bus stop. An officer entered inside the bus after looking at the Black Maana cover, the officer did not sit with Jeeva’s son though there was a place and no other vacancy in the bus. After the Government Hospital, the bus claimed the flyover, after the flyover, Klapana Theatre bus stop, which is opposite to the Salem Anna Park. From the Park a couple came into the bus, they were searching for seat to sit with their 3 year old kid. Jeeva’s son want to stand from 4 Roads to Sathiram Bus stop since there is nobody to talk with him, so for them he woke up and gave place, but both of them did not sit after seeing the Black carry bag, now the Maana smell broadcasted throughout the bus, nobody sat on the seat till 4 Roads.

After 4 Roads Jeeva’s son foot boarded with other passenger’s From 4 Roads to Thammannnan Chetty road, other passenger’s angry on him just for the Maana bag, now the smell is very clear, some crushed him on the foot. Jeeva’s son walked through the Sathiram to Lee bazar road. Jeeva’s son intent to walk right side, to see the people’s reaction. Many people turned aside, and crossed opposite side, after seeing the Maana carry bag. In those days there was no equality for Maana, but nowadays there is no maana , that is to say there is no equality.

There is no Equality in M.phil/phd Admission, there is no equalitiy in Viva – voce, there is only denial of equality, denying prof. Sukhadeo thorat recommendation, denying Students protest places in Ad – block, denying the education of the Marginal’s. When Equality is denied everything is denied.”

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

The post A year after Rohit Vemula’s death, another Dalit PhD student commits suicide in JNU appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As a development professional, I have walked into the offices of many NGOs and read many a lop-sided, glossy pamphlet with slogans that have made me flinch. As someone working on hygiene and sanitation issues, one among those slogans has been seared into my memory: “Humne yeh liya hait haan, shauchalyamei hi bahu-beti ka samman” (Toilets ensure the dignity of our mothers and daughters).

I have no qualms in admitting I was, up until a year ago, a naïve and idealistic social worker in-the-making. At the risk of sounding self-absorbed, I would also like to add that I am a bit of a paradox. Internally, I have raging self-doubt, and an even more grim suspicion of others. The nature of my job has made me look at everything, and everyone, with a critical eye. And yet, externally, and on a day-to-day basis of my lived experiences, I have often exhibited a fierce faith in humanity – I have tried to understand the apathy of the Indian policeman and I have given my co-workers the benefit of the doubt when they have perpetuated patriarchal ideas to achieve social justice.

Some of this may have changed in the last year. I continue to try to understand the cruelty of the policeman whose hands are tied and who serves as a pawn in the hands of the government, acting out on the instructions doled out “from above” without undermining their active, and not always unwilling, role as a cog in a draconian machinery. However, I have been pushed to disbelief in the nobility of development players and my long-held conviction, that people’s political affiliations are irrelevant as long as they are actively working towards social change, has been challenged and violently obliterated.

Two months ago, my team and I conducted a district-wide survey to determine the knowledge of, attitudes towards, and behaviors associated with, sanitation and hygiene in the villages of Lucknow. Around 90 percent of the female respondents (both women and adolescent girls) confirmed they felt increasingly unsafe when defecating in the open, and many had been victims of heckling and harassment. This is the reason rural women defecate in groups, darkly correspondent to the urban trend of women travelling in packs to the loo to avoid harassment and feel safe.

In fact, a lack of an adequate number of toilets has been identified as one of the causative factors of rapes in the country (Amarnath Tewary, India Bihar Rapes Caused by Lack of Toilets, May 9, 2013, BBC ). In a chilling case in May 2014, two Dalit teenage girls were gang-raped and hanged from a mango tree after they went to relieve themselves deep into the night (Sonal Bhadoria, India’s Shame! Sisters’ Rape Sparks Global Outrage, May 30, 2014, India Times).

All hell broke loose. The international media was abuzz with distasteful headlines and India – the land of no toilets – assumed center stage with its peculiar, other-worldly problem the international community could de-construct as “very alarming” and “very Indian”. Soon, “toilet” became synonymous with honor. As a WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) professional, I understand the indispensable need for toilets. Half of India’s population defecates outside (UNICEF India, Eliminate Open Defecation).

My field work has produced evidence that a lack of separate toilet for girls and boys causes girls to miss school during their periods. One can only imagine the extent to which such a trend impedes their learning and affects their overall educational development and future employability. Lack of toilets, and open defecation, also leads to fecal borne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera that claims the lives of lakhs of children per year.

And so, toilets can improve our health and educational outcomes, protect the environment, boost India’s gross national product, and save lives. But to expand the toilet argument to make room for an “honor fulfillment” clause is not only disingenuous but also dangerous. A recent Rakshabandhan sanitation campaign in select villages in Lucknow promoted the message that a “protective” brother must build his sister a toilet to keep her dignity intact (Shailvee Sharda, “On Rakhi, Men Gift Toilets to Their Sisters”, August 18, 2016, The Times of India).

While defecating in the open is surely not a “dignified” act for anyone, male or female, such dissemination strategies posit a lack of toilet as a leading cause of rape and tries to achieve a noble end goal through corrupt and counter-revolutionary notions.

Ever since the Modi government came to power, not only the political landscape, but the social landscape, too, has changed dramatically. This is because Modi’s politics is deeply rooted in certain social attitudes, and it is becoming harder to disassociate the two in the common population that constitute his distinguished vote-bank. In the last few months, Modi’s brazen disregard for vigilante-style caste-based violence has only reinforced what Modi’s critics proclaimed all along – the Bharatiya Janata Party is a pro-Brahman, casteist party set on making India a Hindu nation with support from RSS – its ideological ally, PR machine and fairy godmother. Modi came into prominence after the 2002 Gujarat riots that claimed the lives of thousands of Muslims. Many were displaced, their houses burnt and their lives, as they knew it destroyed. Women were tortured and raped in ways unimaginable, and beyond the scope of India’s rape laws at the time.

It was one of the darkest periods in the history of the country and Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, is largely believed to have instigated and enabled the violence. Before the 2014 election that brought the BJP into power at the Center, Modi was a reluctantly discussed persona, and the Gujrat pogrom was not an issue people, especially those who regularly moved in ideologically diverse crowds, wanted to discuss. Even after his name was cleared by the SIT under still-dubious circumstances, and with many activists, academicians and survivors crying bluff over the verdict and proclaiming that evidence had been suppressed, Modi did not yet become a household name – but all that was about to change.

Ever since the Modi govt. assumed the reins of the country, the stage has been set for unabashed polarisation, divisiveness and moral posturing. The population has always been divided on the issue of caste-based reservations. However, never before has the country seen such proud and fierce declarations of one’s caste as “supreme” to another. Over 89 years after BR Ambedkar’s “Mahad Satyagrah” under which he led Dalits to draw water from a tank formerly denied to them on grounds of their “untouchable” status, villages in India continue to de divided on caste lines, determining who gets to fetch water from a well and who is too “impure” to be allowed the facility (Times of India, “Dalits Can’t Draw Water from Well Here, April 14, 2016, Paragraph 3).

Untouchability persists, and sanitation is an issue that directly reaches the heart of the matter. Dalits have been incessantly discriminated against on the grounds of uncleanliness owing to their poor economic, financial, educational and social conditions. Furthermore, with all the hullabaloo around the usage of toilets, the Swachh Bharat Mission has failed to address the crucial question of cleanliness of toilets – who is cleaning these toilets?

Surely, the age-old custom of manual scavenging and toilet-cleaning by the safayi karamchaaris (sweepers), the majority of whom belong to the Dalit community, prevails. Can not a grand program like the SBM address this issue head on, and initiate discussions around the development of technologically advanced machineries to clean sewers and effectively address the issue of the freedom of Dalits from modern-day slavery? Can not the government’s commendable marketing machinery take the opportunity to disseminate anti-caste messages?

The SBM, however, is invested in perpetuating patriarchy by making it an issue of honor, and casteism by shying away from the caste-conundrum, and many development players are playing along because it is coming from a religiously motivated political party that serves their agenda and prescribes to their values, and the values of their forefathers.

Modi’s advent has sharply divided the country. He has his supporters and his staunch critics, but he has also created a curious faction – the right-wing good Samaritans. Unlike the hardliner Hindutva brigade, these individuals are not blood-thirsty fanatics. They are honest in their work and they genuinely care for the future of the nation. However, they are also dedicated Modi supporters and do not think a Hindu Rashtra (nation) would be such a bad thing.

They think the SBM is noble in its mission. As long as they are able to implement the government programs successfully, provide toilet facilities to the economically disenfranchised, evade uncomfortable questions of caste, class, patriarchy, nationalism, minorities and Kashmir, and keep their belief in the man and his divine horsemen intact, they have lived a good life in the service of the nation. In their self-congratulatory bubble, they mindlessly implement one program after the other without addressing the deeply rooted social problems of the country.

As development professionals, it is our duty to undertake the difficult walk to complete social transformation by addressing the root causes of the issues, even if they are seeped in our cultural and religious identities. Development professionals implementing the SBM across India must unite on a common platform and ask the government questions about social inequity in the development sphere. Implementing social welfare programs while holding tight to our privilege makes hypocrites of us all.

As long as we continue to give our inherent prejudices precedence over an unequivocal submission to social justice, we will not progress, and the most socially marginalized factions of our society will continue to suffer, waiting for one program after another to provide shallow respite, while continuing to raise a question on their identities every day.

(Samiya Javed is a water, sanitation and hygiene development professional from Lucknow, India).
 

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