'Jungle Raj' in Rajasthan: Lawlessness, rise in atrocities on Dalits in BJP-ruled State

One after the other, shocking incidents of crimes and atrocities on the Dalits are being reported from Rajasthan.

The latest incident has occurred in Chittorgarh where three Dalit boys were stripped and beaten up publicly.

'Vigilante justice': Dalit boys stripped, beaten

The photographs are shocking and it is not proper to share them. Surprisingly, there has been no major action so far.

The boys were suspected of stealing, but the minors were publicly stripped--it is nothing but total lawlessness--The Rule of the Jungle.


Innocent Kashmiri students were arrested for no fault

This is the same district where Kashmiri students were arrested by police for no fault. There was a false allegation that they had cooked beef. It was finally proved that beef was not cooked at all.

However, police said that they had to arrest the youths for 'their safety' from the right-wing elements on the campus.

Doesn't it show that the Rajasthan police are subservient to the trouble-makers and the beef vigilantes. Innocents were made the accused?

Institutional killing: The case of Delta Meghwal

The murder of teenaged girl Delta Meghwal has also been a major case that shows the insensitivity of the administration.

It is a clear case of institutional murder where the Jain college management is clearly at fault.

The teenaged girl was sent to 'clean' a male instructor's room. She was later allegedly raped and then killed.

The role of the authorities is questionable as for days no action was taken. A bandh call has been given in Barmer, in this regard.

Isn't it Jungle-Raj in Rajasthan?

Man says dog 'untouchable' after 'lower caste' family fed it

A man said that his pet dog had become untouchable after it was fed roti by a Dalit [lower caste] family in the neighbourhood. Worse, the man abandoned the dog and threatened the Dalit family, asking them to pay compensation for spoiling the dog.

This is another example of the horrible caste practices and prejudices that are prevalent in Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh. The case got attention due to the recently initiated public hearing scheme in which citizens can meet top officials on a week day and make direct complaints to them.

The incident occurred in Malikpur in Morena district. The Dalit family was fearful to live in the area. The neighbour was forcing them to either pay him Rs 15,000 for the loss of his 'well-bred' dog who had been corrupted or face consequences. Even the Panchayat members supported the oppressor.

Incidentally, in this case also the accused doesn't belong to the Upper Castes, rather he is a member of a dominant backward caste. Moneyed and land owning OBCs are harassing Dalits and Tribals in many parts of the country.

The District Magistrate and the DIG also appeared shocked by the incident. The officials concerned have been asked to take action and provide security to the family of the victim Chandan Jatav.

Chandan's wife Sunita insists that she was returning from fields and had an extra 'roti' which she gave to the dog but the neighbour was aghast, threatening her to face the consequences for the act.

In fact, discriminations due to caste and economic status don't get adequate attention in media. In my last post regarding Shobhaa De's article on denial of admission to Muslim youths in colleges, I had mentioned that discriminations are all around and not limited to any particular community alone.

How would a family feel when they are told that even the dog gets untouchable if they touch or feed him? It's horrible. It shows how poor communities in rural and semi-urban India continue to face segregation and humiliation.

Perhaps, it was because of the public hearing scheme that the news came out and reached officials, else such complaints are not even registered at the police station level, where complainants are simply turned away.

Children hit for sitting on mat 'reserved' for upper caste students

Unbelievable it may seem but over a dozen children were brutally beaten up by teachers in a government school for 'daring' to sit at the place reserved for upper caste kids in the class.

This shocking incident of casteist cruelty was ignored by national media, particularly, TV channels that raise the racism bogey and turn jingoist when an Indian is roughed up in either Australia or America, for whatever reason.

In this case, the Dalit or Lower Caste [sic] children are supposed to unroll the mat and even sweep floors before the classes start but when it comes to sitting on the mat, they have to leave the space and either sit on the rag-tag mat or on the bare floor.

When they sat on the place where Thakur children used to sit, angry teachers--Shantilal Parihar and DP Yadav beat them up. Mercifully, the incident which occurred in Dongra Dongai village was not far from urban area and it got reported. The case was registered under Juvenile Justice Act.

The fact that children face such attitudes in government schools and such reports are not taken seriously clearly shows that the media large remains oblivious to atrocities on Dalits. At least, the news could have caused alarm as in this case the victims were minor children.

The incident occurred in Ashok Nagar district in Madhya Pradesh last week. Children as young as five and six year old were beaten. One or two local papers, particularly Nai Dunia, gave it some importance while the rest ignored it or published it as a small one column report. The irony is that intense casteism is prevalent across the country, especially in rural areas but mainstream media doesn't seem to have any affect.

Caste remains a harsh reality in rural India. Our national attitude towards it remains
In large parts of North India, it is impossible for Dalits to ride a horse during a marriage procession. There are still separate cups for tea in shops in several parts or they are asked to wash their own utensils. But lack of sensitisation among journalists is a reason for ignoring such issues.

It is a fact that often journalists sensationalise extremely minor and trivial issues while such incidents of inhumanity are considered 'nothing', as they are 'part of tradition'  in the regions. The reality is that even when such cases are reported, a section feels that the complaint may be exaggerated for 'financial gains' or harassing others by misusing the provisions of Atrocities on SC/ST Act, though they forget that the much-feared Act has hardly any conviction rate in the country. Even Dalit activists hardly bother about such incidents.

Parents protest 'lower caste' women cooking food in schools

The outrage among parents over Dalit or Lower Caste [sic] women cooking food for their children in schools has once again demonstrated the casteist face of our society.

'Upper caste' families are insistent that they would not send the kids to school if the children are served food cooked by Dalit women. In several places, villagers have turned violent and the cooks had to be sent away.

This is happening in the heartland of India, from Kanpur to Kannauj, Allahabad to Shahjehanpur and Farrukhabad to Bijnore. Despite that a Dalit woman is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the caste prejudices remain strong at the ground level, especially in rural areas.

The State government recently ordered that Dalit women were to be appointed as cooks in schools under the mid-day meal scheme which is aimed at enrollment of poor children in schools. For 25 kids, the cook would be a Dalit, and in case of 100 children, two cooks including a Dalit and a 'general' woman would be hired.

Despite the loss of upper castes' clout, a Kayastha, Bania or Thakur woman is not likely to go for a cook's job in UP. A Brahmin woman belonging to poor family may however be found at a cook's place because Brahmins are numerous and not financilaly as strong as Banias [Vaishyas] or even Thakurs.

Otherwise, backward caste women are more likely to do this job. However, a Dalit woman is still not welcome. Such are the complexities of caste in contemporary Indian society. In some schools, teachers went on leave.

Elsewhere the are not cooking food but cleaning school premises for fear of hurting 'sensibilities'. In Kannauj 70 parents were booked by police for withdrawing their children from schools. But this is causing further hardening of stance.

For political purposes, Congress' Rahul Gandhi and BJP's Rajnath Singh may go and have food in Dalit households but practically untouchability is still practiced widely. The educated class of parents is least bothered about the criminality of their conduct and that these actions are corrupting the minds of their kids.

Surprisingly, it is not just the traditional upper castes including Brahmins, Rajputs, Banias and Kayasthas who are protesting the decision to appoint dalit women as cooks in schools, but the other backward castes [OBCs] are equally fierce in their opposition to Dalits.

Jats, Kurmis & Yadavs also ganged up against the Dalits. Muslims may not have openly reacted but they are no less casteist and when it comes to caste divide, readily align with the upper castes. And though Dalits comprise the biggest caste group (22%) in UP, the battle for honor is yet to be won despite the BSP ruling the state once again.

UP that has a population of around 200 million is today ruled by a Dalit woman. But that hasn't changed attitudes much though there has been a sense of empowerment amongst the weaker sections who remained at the periphery for centuries.

The open display of caste prejudices and such inhuman attitude towards Dalits haven't still send shockwaves across the country. In rural areas of UP, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana and also parts of South India, it is still a dream for many Dalits to wear shoes or ride horse in the marriage procession.

Such news items don't alarm the society much. While reservation in jobs has helped a section of Dalits attain financial security, for a vast majority the real fight for dignity is far from over. The recent spate of honour killings in which often OBCs were the perpetrators show that the cancer of casteism is spreading.

Caste may not appear as strong and as divisive a factor in cities, in countryside--towns and villages--this abhorrent apartheid continues to oppress millions. It was perhaps this reason that Dr BR Ambedkar had urged his followers to move to cities.

While communalism may be responsible for more deaths in indpendent India, the fact is that casteism is a much serious social evil that is often neglected and due attention is not given towards redressing the caste issues.

It is this reason that some media reports seemed to blame the government for taking the decision to appoint Dalit cooks and in turn fanning caste tensions. Sadly no progressive or reformist voice has been heard from the society against this anti-Dalit mindset.

Legislations and penal actions haven't changed the situation. Isn't it ironical that even today we, in India, commonly use terms like Upper Castes and Lower Castes?