The following incidents occurred between March to April 24 across Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, two neighbouring states. One of these includes a brutal incident where a small child was beaten and abused for merely accidentally touching an upper caste man’s bucket while drinking water. Equally horrifying is an incident, where a magistrate allegedly tried to ask a Dalit woman in court to strip. Statistics remain grim in India as the data shows that crimes registered under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 have seen a 9 % increase for members of the Scheduled Caste community. However, the conviction rate under this remains and in 2020, only 216 out of 50,291 cases registered for crimes against Scheduled Castes resulted in convictions.
Alwar, Rajasthan
In Rajasthan’s Alwar, an eight-year-old Dalit boy was reportedly assaulted for touching a water bucket near a hand pump in a village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. As per a report by the Indian Express, the police have stated that the incident occurred on the morning of March 30 when the boy, a fourth-grade student at the village’s government school, went to drink water from the hand pump on school grounds. As per the complaint, a man from a higher caste, who was filling the bucket with water at the time, attacked the boy when he touched the bucket. The man refused to apologise and even shouted at the boy’s family, subjecting them to casteist abuse. A police complaint has been lodged in Ramgarh police station by the parents.
Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
A cases of assault against Dalit people have taken place in UP’s Amethi. The first was against Sunil Kumar Harijan who had been unpaid by his employer for over two months of work. As per a report in The Mooknayak, he is a Dalit youth from Mattepur village in Mohanganj, who does ironwork and had been working for contractor Azhar in Ahmedabad since 2020. However, before Holi, Sunil returned home and asked Azhar for Rs 30,000 in unpaid wages for two months of work. Azhar refused, claiming dissatisfaction with Sunil’s work. When Sunil pressed on regarding his unpaid wages, Azhar threatened him and subjected him casteist abuses. Following this, Mooknayak reports that he has filed a police complaint under sections 504, 506, 507, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of the Indian Penal Code.
Karauli, Rajasthan
In Rajasthan’s Karauli district, in what seems to be a shocking incident, a magistrate reportedly asked a Dalit gang rape survivor to undress to inspect her injuries. The magistrate has been booked after the survivor lodged a complaint on March 30, accusing the magistrate of requesting this during a court session in Hindaun. The incident is being treated as an instance of outraging modesty, and charges have been filed under section 345 of the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to NDTV, Deputy SP (ST-SC) cell Mina Meena stated, “She refused to strip and after recording the statement in the court on March 30, she registered a complaint against the magistrate.” A case has been registered with Kotwali Police Station under charges of outraging modesty on March 27.
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