Caste Matters In Crimes Against Dalits

The fact is, majority members of the upper castes have always been in denial when it comes to pertinent issues concerning the Schedule Caste/Tribes and especially Dalits.

Two weeks after the gang-rape and physical violence unleashed on her, the 19-year-old Dalit lady from Hathras died on September 29. Her parents were not even allowed to cremate her, as the police took the body, debarred the parents and lit the pyre, ensuring no streak of evidence was left for anyone to pursue. This was mercifully brought to light by a journalist, Tanushree Pandey. Even before this news could sink in, by September 30, night another Dalit girl died after a gruesome gang-rape in Balrampur.

Media denial of caste killing

Both cases reported from Uttar Pradesh after an editor of a leading network of news channels said it was not right to ‘write off’ the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and he should be given another chance. The same news channel had carried a poll claiming Adityanath as the best Chief Minister. Around this same time, a political editor from another leading news channel on Twitter tried to echo the majority narrative, that it was wrong to call the Hathras crime as a crime against a ‘Dalit’. She did receive a lot of flak for it but the problem is not one editor or one channel or a few of them.

The fact is, majority members of the upper castes have always been in denial when it comes to pertinent issues concerning the Schedule Caste/Tribes and especially Dalits. It is like they do not exist and the rest of us are in complete denial, even when there is a caste killing. This was the attitude seen when the Khairlanji massacre occurred, which was always a caste killing and just as expected most of the media was in complete denial of it. Only after the members of various Dalit online groups uploaded the photographs of the gruesome massacre did the media wake up.

This denial that we have been seeing has a lot to do with the fact that most news organisations still have Brahmins and a higher percentage of males as editors. Proprietors too are not open to hiring Muslim and Dalit reporters even in 2020. In the technical teams, it is not the case, but editorial somehow this is the precedence, which of course integrates with the popular narrative of our country. Let us also not forget few editors have proudly worn their Brahmin cards on their chests. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet was formed a leading so-called secular editor proudly displayed his Saraswat Brahmin association on social media and proudly tweeted about it. Then there should be no surprise that we are repeatedly reminded, such offences are only ‘crimes’ and NOT caste killings or caste violence.

The Indian society has been based on caste segregation and the lower the caste lesser are the opportunities they get to better their lives – be it jobs, education, bank loans, unequal wages, denial to defecate in public toilets, disallowed from entering Hindu temples even today and so on. This is something that our Indian politicians have always caught onto and they know they can win or lose based on specific caste votes. A pet peeve of these selective journalist-editors who criticise ticket distribution based on caste. It is time every Indian firstly admitted caste is a harsh reality that exists. Parents still do not talk openly about caste segregation and the violence that goes with it. Nobody needs to even remotely believe things are any different below the Vindhyas. Yes, the percentage of such crimes may be lesser, but they do exist.

Crimes against Dalits a reality

Crimes against Dalits have been increasing and even if the mainstream tries to ignore it the statistics cannot be hidden. Even the fact that most often they do not get justice is also not reported in the media. In fact, during the Covid-19 pandemic crimes against Dalits have been on the rise. The National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ – NCDHR) has revealed there were 92 cases of violence against Dalits since the lockdown began in March. More so, justice for them has been slow. This data also showed that crimes against Dalits have increased by six per cent from 2009-2018 with over 3.91 lakh atrocities reported. The report also pointed out to the gaps in the implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The Dalit women often bear the brunt of the violence as pointed out by many studies. The Human Rights Watch organisation reported that often “Sexual violence is linked to debt bondage in rural areas.” This report also highlighted police and landlords used sexual abuse and violence as a tool to inflict political lessons and even crush any Dalit movements. The reported cases include Dalit women “being forced to eat human defecation, parading them naked, gang rapes (most gang- rapes are against Dalit women). Yet, the mainstream media will continue to ignore them as a crime against a particular caste. Not surprisingly, the police too follow the majority rule of not registering a crime/offences.

Another report highlights that abuses and atrocities are inflicted on Dalit women in public places. Dalit women are seen to face violence in public toilets, on the streets, in their villages and towns, and also are paraded naked. The next most common place of violence the report says is domestic violence and even face physical and sexual assaults. More so the third place where they face violence is government spaces, often in police stations.

The problem is not just the increasing number of physical and sexual violence rising against Dalit women. The fact is the conviction in these by the courts is so lopsided that we should not be surprised then the Dalit women are diffident of filing First Information Reports (FIRs) or often their families and even police prevent them from filing reports. Not even one per cent of the accused have been convicted by the courts. The NCRB in 2006 reported, in 17.4 per cent of instances of violence, police themselves obstructed women from attaining justice. In 26.5 per cent violence against Dalit women, the perpetrators and those supporting them, including members of the upper caste prevent the victims from obtaining justice. In as many as 40.2 per cent, the women did not attempt to obtain legal or community remedies for violence against them, mainly due to ‘fear’ of the perpetrators or social dishonour if the sexual violence was revealed. Even in the Hathras case, the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Prashant Kumar said the victim of the Hathras incident in Uttar Pradesh was not raped.

All this tells us of the grim reality still faced by the Dalits. In most village panchayats the members belong to the upper castes and have strong political backing. Rarely do they support Dalits or members of the SC/ST. The other glaring issue faced by women on the whole and gets worse for Dalit women is the patriarchal mindset. No wonder then most of these cases of sexual assault and violence against Dalit women are not reported. There is no space for whataboutery by the majority that women, on the whole, are targeted. More so, certain states where members of the minority communities namely Dalits and Muslims have been targeted by members of the upper castes and political groups closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party, a trend increasing in the last six years.

Crimes during Covid-19

In February this year, the NCRB report highlighted Uttar Pradesh remains among the top states for crimes against Dalits ranging from rape, murder, violence and land-related conflicts, while Gujarat was at number two. In fact as per this data, UP witnessed a substantial increase of 47 per cent from 2014-2018 in the crimes committed against Dalits followed by 26 per cent in Gujarat, 15 per cent in Haryana, 14 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 11 per cent in Maharashtra. No surprise, all these states at that time were ruled by the BJP.

Apart from these offences, the untouchability which is an offence is seen to be practised even today. The reports say after the World Health Organisation called for ‘social distancing’ after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the upper castes in India had welcomed this, considering 95 per cent still follow this religious endogamy. More recent example being, 18 rapes were reported in Uttar Pradesh in the last 48-72 hours whereas 6 of the victims were minor.

I think the least the mainstream media can do is change beginning from the decision-makers in the newsrooms, make hiring more inclusive, that will surely reflect the ground reality and actually develop trust with the audience. For a thriving democracy, the media needs to have the trust of citizens and we are seeing that eroding every day.

Neeta Kolhatkar is a senior journalist with over 30 years of work experience across different media platforms. She is currently a freelancer and media consultant.

(Views Expressed Are Personal)