Gujarat: On January 28, 2025, a 35-year-old tribal woman in Dahod district was brutally assaulted, disrobed, and paraded through her village by a mob, allegedly led by her in-laws, over an alleged extra-marital affair. The Gujarat police arrested 12 individuals and registered an FIR against 15 people, charging them with abduction, wrongful confinement, outraging modesty, and assault with intent to disrobe. The High Court took suo moto cognizance, demanding an action-taken report from state authorities the woman has since been rehabilitated under the ‘Suraksha Setu’ program.

In #Dahod #Gujarat, a tribal lady was brutally beaten and paraded naked over an alleged affair; 12 people arrested by police @MinistryWCD @WCDGujarat @BhanubenMLA @NCWIndia pic.twitter.com/D8TOjZNyyU

— GujaratHeadline News (@GujaratHeadline) February 1, 2025

Rajasthan: On September 2, 2023, a similar attack occurred in Pratapgarh district, where a 21-year-old pregnant tribal woman was allegedly kidnapped by her in-laws, stripped, and paraded naked after being accused of an extra-marital affair. The police arrested nine people, including her husband. The Rajasthan government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and announced financial assistance for the victim. The case will be fast-tracked to ensure swift justice.

 

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 Manipur: On May 4, 2023, in a horrifying incident that drew national and international outrage, two women were paraded naked by a mob in Kangpokpi district during ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The victims were allegedly gang-raped in a field. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) condemned the act, and the Manipur government, under immense pressure, assured swift action. Police have identified the accused and are in the process of making arrests.

 

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Suresh Gopi’s controversial remarks on tribal affairs

Amid these escalating crimes, Union Minister and BJP MP Suresh Gopi sparked controversy with his remarks on the Tribal Affairs Ministry. Speaking at an election campaign in New Delhi, Gopi suggested that a Brahmin or Naidu leading the ministry would bring ‘big change’ to tribal welfare. Facing widespread backlash, he later withdrew his statement.

His comments expose the deep-rooted caste bias in India’s political discourse. The Tribal Affairs Ministry was created in 1999 to focus on the socio-economic development of Scheduled Tribes, who have historically faced oppression. Suggesting that a dominant-caste leader is necessary to ‘reform’ tribal affairs reflects an outdated and paternalistic mind-set.

Pattern of violence and systemic neglect

These incidents are not isolated. Crimes against tribal women continue to rise, often met with delayed justice or impunity. The High Court’s intervention in the Gujarat case and the swift action in Rajasthan and Manipur signal an urgent need for structural reforms and greater accountability in law enforcement.

Moreover, Gopi’s remarks highlight the persistent casteist attitudes that hinder genuine tribal empowerment. Political leaders must recognize that true progress comes from policies that uplift marginalized communities rather than reinforce historical hierarchies.

Call for action

The assaults in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Manipur, along with the regressive remarks on tribal governance, demand urgent attention. Legislative measures must be strengthened to protect tribal women from gender-based violence. Additionally, political leaders must be held accountable for their statements to ensure that caste prejudices do not influence governance.

While outrage may dominate headlines today, real change will only come through sustained advocacy, policy reforms, and a collective effort to challenge deeply ingrained biases that continue to marginalize India’s tribal communities.

Related:

MP witnesses rising violence against tribals, as BJP youth wing leader caught beating a tribal elderly

Manipur Violence: Video showing 2 Kuki women being paraded naked opens the eyes of the government

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A 24-year-old tribal woman was gunned down in an alleged maoist encounter in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh by District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel on May 31. The DRG claimed that they had found arms and ammunition on her, along with the bag and other essentials carried by Maoists. Her mother, however, claims that she was picked up from their house by the police and alleges that when the body was handed to them, it was mutilated. The mother also alleges that her daughter was raped.

Her mother has written to the station-in charge that in the early hours of May 30, her daughter was taken away by some female constables and also named 7 DRG personnel who forcibly took her with them. She states that they chased the vehicle for at least half a kilometre and the next morning when they approached the police they were redirected to Dantewada where they were informed that their daughter died in police firing. In the letter, the family also alleged their daughter’s body had injuries on her breasts, thighs and her hand, reported Indian Express.

The Sarpanch of the village supported the claims of the family and told IE, “She was to get married in June. She had been involved with maoists around five years ago, but had returned home a couple of years back. There were no weapons in their house, and she did not carry any on her either”. A senior police official told IE that the family was being forced to protest by Maoists.

IE also reported that Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava stated the woman was a member of platoon No 16 and her name had come up in the interrogation records of all surrendered and arrested Maoists of Indrawati Area Committee of CPI (Maoist) and her platoon.

Further, Bastar IG P Sundarraj stated that DRG received a tip-off about the presence of Maoist cadres and an operation was launched in Gumalnar area. In the exchange of fire, the concerned woman died. “She carried a reward of ₹2 lakh. Two country-made weapons and improvised explosive devices IEDs were also recovered from the site,” he said.

A few weeks ago, Sukma District Collector directed an inquiry into the firing on May 17 that allegedly resulted in 9 deaths whereby security personnel claimed that they had 3 Maoists had died in the firing. Thousands of villagers had gathered to protest the decision to set up a security camp at Silger, Sukma and the police maintained that they were protesting under pressure from Maoists and that those who were killed were Maoists in the garb of protesting villagers.

Related:

Silger firing: Collector orders probe, requests protesters to return home
Chhattisgarh: Cases against 726 tribals withdrawn
Urgent action needed against spread of Covid in tribal areas!

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“One woman standing up against an unjust law is unlikely to achieve much on her own; many women working together, however, are more likely to provoke change” (Rowland 1998)

I had first read about a Van Gujjar named Mariam in an article titled “Tribal Women in UP: Challenging the Panchayat System” in Diana Vinding’s book Indigenous Women: The Right to a Voice. When the Van Gujjar community finally gained the right to vote in 1996, Mariam became a ward member for her Gram Panchayat in Mohand.[1] At that time she was only 24, and had learned to read and write through an adult education program held by a local NGO. Mariam realized she could help people with their problems by walking from household to household across the jungle, sharing information from everything to ration cards or village meetings. I showed her the black and white photo from the 1998 article, and she laughed at the younger version of herself: “I went to countries in Europe for meetings about forest peoples you know, near to France. This lady from abroad came to make my passport and take me. I went even though my family said no”.  I knew from NGO archives that Mariam had attended United Nations forums on the rights of indigenous peoples as a representative of India. Because Van Gujjars in the 1990s lived within the forests, and not in villages, Mariam’s role was special as not only a woman, but also as a forest-dweller. Her community faced unique needs that couldn’t be channeled through normal gram panchayat routes.

After years of leadership, how did Mariam end up removed from politics, and alone in a resettlement colony? The history of Van Gujjars is complex and varied – each family has a different story, yet some narratives are shared. The creation of Rajaji National Park (RNP) in 1983 secured over 800 square kilometres of jungle as inviolate space, forcing evictions of forest-dwelling people – primarily Van Gujjars.[2] The shift to a sedentary life was incongruent for many (Gooch 1998). Some moved to the colonies willingly, hopeful with the promise of schools, services, and land, while others were coerced. Many Van Gujjars’ names were left of the census for compensation entirely, and they continued to face harassment to leave, while receiving no space in a colony. For those that chose to fight for a life in the forest, harassment, eviction orders, and precarity are rife to this day. Life is negotiated with the Forest Department and authorities, as it always has been since the beginning of British rule and the stationing of guards across the dense forests. The Van Gujjar families who are still residing in the jungles are the ones fighting for livelihood rights under the 2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA), though so far action has been dominated by men.

(Mariam (née Sain Bibi) circa 1996 in Vinding’s book)

The story of the colonies, where Mariam lives, is different. As she muttered to me: ‘no one comes here anymore. There are no meetings or going-ons here’. The expectation is for one family to use their small plot of land, and be grateful for it (despite being denied official ownership papers). Social activism around pastoral and forest rights for Van Gujjars in the colonies is overruled bythe assumption of self-sufficiency and privatized lives conducted on individual parcels of land.[3] The irony is that most children are able to attend school in colonies– a privilege those in the jungles do not have. However, the morale for collective action is comparatively low, as the banality of everyday life and eking out a living is time-consuming.[4]Though Mariam discussed the difficulties of colony life versus the difficulties of being the forest, noting that both were challenging in different ways, she told me it was important that people always connected to the forest.

The intersectionalities that Mariam traverses – as a woman, Van Gujjar, (former) forest-dweller, community leader, and now a widow – made me wonder when and how female leadership can flourish. Some of the strongest female leaders currently emerging in local and national politics are from neighbouring UP, near Sonbhadra andDudhwa National Park. Vehemently fighting for recognition of the 2006 FRA, they even brought their case to the Delhi Supreme Court. The FRA is a landmark piece of legislation which attempts to redress the historical injustices faced by tribal and forest-dwelling people, while granting them rights to live on and use traditional territory.

The act specifically includes gender provisions –  “the FRA provides some degree of gender representativeness in the form of joint titles and some clauses for minimum representation for women in various assemblies”(Sharma 2017:58). It is also important to note that the FRA is perhaps the only legislation of independent India that recognizes women’s equal and independent rights over natural resources. Furthermore, it can grant rights to single women, whom otherwise have been conveniently ignored in existing legislation and government schemes (AIUFWP, personal communication). It is crucial to understand these provisions in the FRA as they mean that both Van Gujjar women (and women all across India) can gain equal recognition their forest rights, regardless of their marital or family situation. However, this still opens up a whole new debate about existing patriarchy and inheritance systems. Thus Sharma reminds us that to empower women, rights incorporated under the act need to actually be exercised (2017). There is a large gap to bridge between policy, and action on the ground, for the FRA tobe relevant to women.

Thus, what role can female empowerment play in the FRA, and conversely, can the FRA itself empower women? For Mariam’s sake, we need to critically analyze why Van Gujjar women are left out of mobilizing, while other forest-dwelling tribal women stand at the forefront of the movement. Don’t pastoralist women also stand to gain from conscientization, and the knowledge of their rights as forest-dwellers under Indian legislation? The intersection of education and activism is a critical nexus. This is where confidence, conviction, and the seeds of empowerment begin to grow. Following Paolo Friere, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, a Maori scholar writes that: “when people learn to read the word of injustice, and the world of injustice, they act against that injustice” (2012:200).

(Mariam in her house – July 2019)

I asked Mariam why she thought Van Gujjar women were not involved in the FRA, or didn’t attend political meetings in general. Of course, there isn’t one easy answer, but she suggested two issues: we need to share and communicate knowledge, and we need to organize around things that are directly relevant to women. To encourage women to try something new, they need a reason that is theirs alone to step out of the house. Somewhere where their presence feels truly necessary, and they’re not just another voice at the back of the room. Diversity is being present at a meeting, inclusion is having a voice, but belonging is having that voice valued.

The adivasi women of Sonbhadra have begun to bridge the gap between policy provisions and action through collectively organizing and forming women’s unions. Similarly, a fascinating study and analysis from Bangladesh by Ryan Higgitt also points in the direction of women collectively organizing for change. This is why: most rural women in South Asia are positioned as dependents, so each woman on her own possesses little prospect of demanding justice. Instead, we need a network of women who have a shared sense of experience. Conscientization and organization can mobilize the only resources rural women do have: their capacity to resist and transform through collective strength. According to Higgitt, “insofar as women’s dis-empowerment is collectively enforced, collective action is assumedly vital” (2011: 113). In Bangladesh, the organization Nagorik Uddyog brings different rural women together to confront a common challenge: inaccessibility to the traditional rural dispute and justice system, shalish. As women from all sections of rural Bangladeshi society are excluded from shalish, NagorikUddyog helps form grassroots networks where women together demand to be involved in shalish (Higgitt 2011). The idea was massively successful.

Take this example to North India: if all Van Gujjar women are excluded from political activism and from the FRA, here too their collective dis-empowerment requires collective action. I believe individual women like Mariam are vital as catalysts and role models for their fellow female community members. However, today no meetings are even held in Pathri, and no NGO support is on the ground. What if Mariam had the collective support of other Van Gujjar women? Support to initiate their own meetings, trainings, and discussions around topics which they deem to be important? If this can happen, I envision Van Gujjar women with the capacity to resist and transform through their collective strength, just like in Sonbhadra or Bangladesh. When we recognize, appreciate, and accept passionate women like Mariam, it can motivate them to take action.

As controversy and legal battles over the FRA and fates of forest-dwelling people resurface in the media and political discourse, it is crucial to think about the forms and possibilities of social action, especially among women, and especially among pastoralists, whose complex identities and histories are left out of the mainstream discourse. Van Gujjar women do not only deserve the right to a voice, but also the right to make that voice be heard, and belong.

(The author is a senior academic with the MSc. Anthropology, Environment, & Development, University College London)

References

Gooch, P. 1998. At the Tail of the Buffalo: Van Gujjar Pastoralists Between the Forest and the World Arena. Lund: Lund University Press.

Vinding, D. 1998. Indigenous Women: The Right to a Voice.Copenhagen: IWGIA.

Higgit, R. 2011. Women’s Leadership Building as a Poverty Reduction Strategy: Lessons from Bangladesh. Journal of South Asian Development, 6(1), 93 –119.

Sharma, A. 2017. The Indian Forest Rights Act (2006): A Gender Perspective. Indian Journal of Women and Social Change. 2(1), 48-64.

Tuhiwai-Smith, L. 2012 [1999].Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books. 

[1] At that time, Mohand was part of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as Uttarakhand was only created in 2000.
[2] It is important to note that other village communities residing near the park were adversely affected, though the focus of this article is specifically about Van Gujjars.
[3] Individual plots of land are completely contrary to traditional pastoral practice, where wide swathes of land are used rotationally, seasonally, and collectively, often with informal and flexible boundaries. Leaving the forest and soil to regenerate when it is tired, and collectively tending to the growth of desired plants throughout the jungle, are both examples common practices.
[4] It is often hard to make ends meet for many families in the colonies, as the ability to gain more land is impossible, and families grow. Mariam also faced difficulties with her bank account, receiving pension, and other bureaucratic technicalities. Thus it is difficult to expect people to have time to engage in things outside income generation.

(Feature Image – Indian Express)

Related:

Compilation of Forest Rights Act, Rules, and Guidelines
Overview of the law pertaining to land and governance under the Fifth Schedule
Frequently Asked Questions on the Forest Rights Act, 2006

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Representation Image

Media reports state that tive people were arrested for the gangrape and assault of a tribal woman on the outskirts of Hyderabad, while nine others were held for trying to coerce the survivor and her husband to “settle” the case out of court.

This is not the only such case pointing to the vulnerabilities faced by women who are part of the labour force. Only last week, media reports said that the woman, a migrant labourer from Nagarkurnool district, was gang-raped at a farmhouse in Pahadi Shareef on the outskirts of Hyderabad for demanding her salary from the owner of a poultry farm. The main accused, M. Prashant Reddy, had employed the woman and her husband with a promised salary of Rs 15,000 but stopped paying them after two months. The husband was also physically assaulted by the accused, according to reports.

It was at this stage, it is reported that the couple began feeding the poultry less and sold the feed to other farms to make money. After Prashant Reddy became aware of this, he misled the couple and took them to a farmhouse around two weeks ago. The 30-year-old woman and her husband were locked up in separate rooms. While the woman was sexually and physically assaulted by five men, her husband was also physically assaulted.The woman said that the assault continued for two days, after which she and her husband were left at the farmhouse. They tried to escape on September 21, but the accused found them and threatened to kill them if they went to the police.

The couple managed to escape on September 26 and filed a police complaint. On September 28, media reports quoted LB Nagar deputy commissioner of police Sunpreet Singh as saying that cases under charges of gangrape and relevant Sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were registered against the accused, who were absconding.

On Sunday, the five accused were held by police. Nine other “village elders” who tried to “settle” the case by offering the survivor and her husband Rs 2.5 lakh were also held by the police.
The Rachakonda police in Hyderabad arrested five people on Sunday for the alleged gang-rape of a tribal woman and the physical assault of her husband, tied up in an adjacent room, at a poultry farm last week. The main accused are Mucha Prasanth Reddy (30), Mucha Anil Reddy (26), R. Bharath (26), Devarshetty Pavan Kumar (29) and C. Hanmanthu (25).

The nine others who have been held are Ravinder, Venkat Reddy, Jatavath Ravinder, Charalapally Yadaiah,  Jarpula Raju, Baygari Suresh, Anugu Lokesh, Vijay Kumar and Mucha Janardhan Reddy, Another person accused of trying to coerce a settlement, Chandrashekar Reddy, is absconding according to news reports.

“The [ten ‘villager elders’] took the survivor and her husband to Harshaguda village and held a panchayat to compromise the issue and they took signatures by forcibly threatening, wrongfully confining and extorting the survivors,” a press release issued by the police said.

While the main accused have been arrested under charges of gangrape and sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the remaining ten accused have been held under charges such as kidnapping, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation among others.

Another tribal woman raped
In an unrelated case, another tribal woman was sexually assaulted in Telangana on Saturday evening. According to reports, a 26-year-old man kidnapped a tribal woman from Salpabandathanda in Nizamabad district, around 200 km from Hyderabad, and allegedly raped her.

The accused was identified as Nagesh of Dubbak village. He kidnapped a 22-year-old tribal woman on Saturday evening in a car while she was grazing cattle. He took the survivor to an isolated area and sexually assaulted her.

After the woman’s father lodged a complaint, the police identified the accused using CCTV footage. Nagesh was taken into custody and has been charged with kidnap and rape.
 

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The day-long session organised by the Tribal Women’s Collective, TISS, Mumbai, included various panels like ‘Wounded Warriors’ (activists), ‘Zoom from Within’ (art and media), ‘I give you Back’ (academicians and writers), ‘The Undefeated’ (sports) and saw the participation of women achievers from various fields like sports, literature, academia, media etc.

Soni Sori, a formal school teacher and currently a noted social and political activist from Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, recounted the horrors of torture she faced at the hands of the state and security forces. She said, “Even when I was arrested, I faced torture as the cops repeatedly said that I am a Gond Maria Adivasi and I have no rights. I faced unspeakable acts by the police.” She highlighted the plight of Adivasi women adding, “If a mother is going to the village to feed her child, the forces would ask her to prove that. They would forcefully milk the mother to prove that she is indeed going to breastfeed the child. This is the situation of mothers in forests of Bastar.  We will never bow down to the government, we will bow only to our communities. We will not give our lands to the government. Jal, Jangal, Jameen is ours and we will save it.”

The marginalisation of tribes is experienced not only by women from the rural centres but also from the urban centres of India. Growing up in Aarey colony in Mumbai, Sheetal Bhorade faced discrimination as a young Adivasi woman. She asked the audience, “Do you know that there are Adivasis in Mumbai?” Among the 220 different Adivasi padas in Mumbai, Sheetal hails from Aarey Colony which has been at the epicentre of protests against Adivasi evacuation. Sheetal depicts the ongoing deforestation and destruction of Adivasi padas through her paintings in Warli art. Sheetal who learnt the Warli art by observing her father as a child depicts the ongoing deforestation and destruction of adivasi padas through her warli paintings. She uses variety big natural materials like bamboo, tree barks and mushrooms for her paintings.

From their artistic expression to the forms of discrimination, the sessions resonated with different facets of resilience by women. Similar experiences of growing up in Kolkata were narrated by Shikha Mandi, the first Santhali female radio jockey from Jhargram, West Bengal. She recalled how growing up in a city made her feel alienated from the Santhali culture and discriminated at school, but taking up her dream job as a radio jockey enabled her to assert her identity. Shikha Mandi hosts her radio show on Radio Milan and has over 40,000 listeners.

Alienation from one’s mother tongue and the imposition of the state language and rampant discrimination at school has resulted in a slow process of alienation for Adivasi children. Ruby Hebrom, founder and director of Adivaani publishing House said, “In school,  once a kid came and asked me: When you polish your shoes, do you polish your face too? Experiences like this made me resent my school, among people who looked down on me due to my skin colour and my being an Adivasi.”

She recalled how while doing a course in publishing, the invisibilization of Adivasis she witnessed left a lasting impression. She said, “I saw the list of people who came to meet us,  I was so disturbed by seeing the invisibility of Adivasis. I wondered if they did not know that we exist, that we too published books. That’s when I decided, I will publish books of Adivasis, and I will do it in English.

From teachers to academician to publishers, Adivasi women’s’ foray into education also meant giving back to the community. Ujwala Bogamiji is a teacher who has been translating Marathi book in Madia Gondi language, She said, “When the Adivasi children speak in their own language, they are very happy. This is why we are working to bring more school syllabus in Adivasi languages.” Starting off in 2011, Adivaani has published a host of books including children’s books depicting Santhali culture through illustrations.

Adivasi women academicians Dr. Rimi Tadu, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi and Dr. Sonajharia Minz, School of Computer and Systems Science JNU took centre stage and spoke about breaking the dominant discourses formulated around Adivasis. Dr. Minz, whose research and teaching includes fields like Mathematics and Big Data, is one of the first three women professors from an Adivasi background to teach in JNU.

L to R Santhali RJ Shikha Mandi, Warli Artist Sheetal Bhorade and Theyiesinuo Keditsu of (@mekhalmama Instagram page)

Not only are Adivasi women making a mark in the fields of academia and literature, but they have also taken social media by storm. Theyiesinuo Keditsu from Kohima, Nagaland who runs her Instagram page @mekhalamama, is documenting the Mehaka the traditional Naga women’s attire.

The youngest participant was national-level archer Gohela Boro, who charmed the audience with her wit and humorous retelling of her childhood growing up in Kokrajhar, Assam and her encounter with the sport of archery. Presiding along with Gohela was Sumrai Tete, women’s hockey team captain and Dhyan Chand award winner. Gohela was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2016 which she has been fighting fervently. Post her diagnoses Gohela has not been able to compete, but she has started her own academy and has also been training 40 children in her village in Archery. At just 22, Gohela has already won around 80 medals. She said, “People ask me, Gohela, do you have a lucky bow?  But I say to them if I don’t work hard, where will I get my luck from? So I always believe in working hard.”

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

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