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NEW DELHI (BLOOMBERG) – A series of brutal rapes committed against India’s lowest caste women are making national headlines in the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion, fueling street protests and outrage from social media that has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in the spotlight.
A 19-year-old woman from the Dalit caste, the lowest rung in Hinduism’s complex social hierarchy, died in a New Delhi hospital on Tuesday (September 29), two weeks after she was allegedly gang-raped by men from upper castes of its north. Indian people.
His mutilated body was found by his mother in the fields of his village in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
Anger was already simmering in the country over her death, but it spilled onto the streets on Wednesday and Thursday following news reports that local police cremated the woman’s body in the middle of the night without her family present.
The NDTV network station showed his relatives pleading with officials to allow them to take the body home.
Since then, caste violations have also come to light in other cities in northern India, such as Balrampur and Ajmer.
More than nine Dalit women were raped every day in 2019, according to data released Tuesday by the National Office for Criminal Records.
As pressure mounted on the state and federal governments, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Twitter that the culprits will not be spared and announced that the case had been turned over to a special investigation team with promises of a quick judgment.
Judges Jaspreet Singh and Rajan Roy of the High Court in the state capital Lucknow referred to the extensive media coverage of the case and noted that “the incident has caused displeasure among the general public.”
They ordered the family to be protected from any coercion and said they would examine “whether the state authorities have taken advantage of the economic and social situation of the family of the deceased to oppress them and deprive them of their constitutional rights.”
The court will meet on October 12, where police and family will be present, according to the October 1 order posted on the court’s website.
The federal Interior Ministry did not immediately comment, and Uttar Pradesh government spokesmen did not respond to calls or text messages.
OLD SYSTEM
India’s Constitution prohibits caste discrimination and enshrines affirmative action through laws designed to offset centuries of marginalization of Dalits, who now number more than 200 million.
However, caste remains an important factor in deciding everything from family ties and cultural traditions to educational and economic opportunities, especially in small towns and villages.
The increasing crimes against lower caste citizens in recent years stand in stark contrast to the electoral promises of social justice and guarantee of the safety of the women of Modi.
The mounting protests are drawing comparisons to the wave of anger that swept across the country in 2012 after a woman was gang-raped on a bus in the capital New Delhi.
“The public outrage against the violations makes it imperative that the establishment guarantees justice,” said Beena Pallical, director of economic and educational rights for the Dalit National Campaign for Human Rights, based in New Delhi. “Now the government has no excuse.”
Even as India seeks a place among the developed nations of the world with Modi’s promises of a $ 5 trillion (Singapore $ 6.83 trillion) economy by 2025, the shadow of caste discrimination persists.
CRIMES OF CASTE
Last year, more than 45,000 crimes against lower-caste citizens were recorded, an increase of 7.3% over 2018 figures, government data shows.
A large number of crimes go unreported, according to the Indian Justice Report, and the criminal justice system leans heavily in favor of the more privileged castes.
“India is a caste society,” said Kiruba Munusamy, a researcher and lawyer for the Supreme Court of New Delhi.
“Most of the authority and state machinery support the ruling castes for political gain. The policemen are not free from caste prejudices either.”
India also has a poor record of successful prosecution of rape cases. Data shows that the conviction rate for rape was 28% in 2019, compared to 42% for murder cases.
A senior police official said Thursday that a forensic report had found no evidence of rape, according to news reports.
An autopsy concluded that the woman died of a neck injury and the resulting trauma, the Indian Express reported, citing a local official.
The Uttar Pradesh police also arrested Mr. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition party in Congress, when he tried to travel to the town where the attack took place.
India is facing a very difficult time with its growing coronavirus epidemic, Ms Pallical said.
“And yet, if these people think that even in a difficult time like this it is okay to treat Dalits and their women like this, what does it say about our Indian society?”
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