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May  2000
Cover Story

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CASTE AND DESCENT–BASED DISCRIMINATION

INDIA’S SHAME!

50 YEARS AFTER THE CONSTITUTION PROCLAIMED EQUALITY FOR ALL INDIANS, OVER 160 MILLION DALITS CONTINUE TO BE VICTIMS OF A ‘HIDDEN APARTHEID’, TREATED AS UNTOUCHABLES, AND WORSE 

They have killed my two sons, my  wife and my only   daughter along   with three others   — all because we have been refusing to do menial jobs in our village that we had been carrying on for decades... My eldest son Venkatramayya was murdered two years ago... Our family left the village immediately after that fearing danger to our lives... The tahsildar and circle inspector brought all of us to the village two months back stating that there will not be any danger to our lives... We will now never go back to Kambalapalli (Kolar district, Karnataka) on any condition... How can we believe anybody’s words of assurances...” 

This was Venkatrayappa, the father of Sriramappa  (25), Anjanappa (27), Pappamma (46), who had been stoned, beaten, locked in their house and burnt to death on March 11, 2000 at Kamballapalli village of Chinthamani taluka in the Kolar district of Karnataka. He was one of the 300 witnesses from 10 states who had turned up in Chennai on April 17th, 18th and 19th at the World University Service Centre for the National Public Hearing on Dalit Human Rights organised by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR).

The NCDHR was launched on 10 December 1998, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of our country’s independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a platform led by Dalit human rights activists with support and solidarity from movements and organisations committed to women, labour and human rights, as well as academicians, intellectuals and other people’s organisations and institutions throughout the country who uphold that “Dalit Rights are Human Rights.”

Dr. Justice K. Ramaswamy, Hon’ble member, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) inaugurated the Public Hearing specifically calling upon the NCDHR to bring before the NHRC the Kambalappalli case which was heard by the full bench of the jury. According to him, subjecting Dalits and tribals to atrocities is as old as the system of untouchability in vogue since centuries. Though the Constitution prohibits discrimination on any ground including caste, even after 50 years of working of the Constitution, discrimination against Dalits is writ large. 

As time passes, the prejudicial mental attitude towards Dalits is getting hardened, he observed. The commitment to eradicate disparities, limitations and restrictions imposed on the Dalits and to bring them into the mainstream of national life of the first generation public men and statesmen immediately before independence gradually dissipated. 

The situation has since turned into a nightmare. Untouchability is an indirect form of slavery and only an extension of the caste system. Caste system and untouchability stand together and will fall together. The idea of hoping to eradicate untouchability without destroying the caste system, therefore, is an utter futility, he observed. 

Ms. Veena Nayyar, member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, delivering the special address categorically called for a national apology from those in leadership to the Dalits for what is happening to them in this country. This would only be the beginning of the end of discrimination and atrocities against Dalits. “This National Public Hearing, organised by the awakened people”, she said, “was the best birthday gift that the Nation could give to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar”. 

According to her, only 2 per cent of the Dalits are able to enjoy the benefits of jobs in states, at the Centre and in the PSUs while 97 per cent of them remain outside the pale of reservation. She therefore called upon countrymen not to let reservation define the problem. Although vested interests within society construe the fight of the Dalits as a fight for reservation, such an observation was the result of a limiting view, Ms. Nayyar stated. She asserted that the fight of the Dalits in this country was a struggle for self–respect, dignity and a fight for full participation in the society in which they live. She called for a solemn resolve to fight that “ugly Indian” who continues to perpetuate acts of discrimination and atrocities against Dalits. The drumbeats of the invocation in the inaugural, unfortunately, marked the regularity with which atrocities against Dalits takes place today, she said. 

She was followed by Prof. Kancha Ilaiah of the Osmania University, Hyderabad who expressed serious concern that even the ‘secular word’ India might soon be replaced by the word ‘Hindustan’. He also cautioned that if that takes place then the Dalits of this country would have no option but to raise the demand for a Dalitsthan. 

This National Public Hearing was intended: 
Ø To provide space for victims of atrocities to depose before the Jury, recognising the victims right to put their cases before the larger and legitimate forum of the public, since the formal institutions of the state had denied them justice; 

Ø To provide an opportunity to the national and international civil society to express their solidarity with the victims in the face of massive denials of their rights;

Ø To solicit support from the media against such atrocities and violence which are not in keeping with civilised and democratic norms of life;

Ø To provide a platform for those who are concerned about upholding Dalit human rights;

Ø To impress forcefully on the minds of the dominant caste groups that the feudal character of caste and the practice of untouchability is today an anachronism in these changing times; and to remind them that fastidiously clinging on to this remnant of the past will result in a backlash from the oppressed communities given the changing power relations that the entire country is witnessing today.

Thus, given the magnitude and complexity of caste and untouch-bility, the NPH was an effort to awaken the consciousness of society at large to the urgency of the need to restore and uphold the rights of Dalits.
The 62 cases presented before the Jury dealt with the following areas of concern and rights violations — Forms of untouchability; manual scavenging; caste–based discrimination in electoral politics; state violence against Dalits; the non–implementation of the SC/ST Act, 1989 & Rules, 1995; the functioning of the National SC/ST Commission for the protection and promotion of Dalit human rights; Dalit labour; discrimination faced by Dalits with regard to land–related issues; bonded labour; right to education for Dalits; atrocities faced by Dalit women; the Devadasi system; caste violence unleashed against Dalits; mass killings of Dalits and destruction of their properties and means of livelihood; social boycott of Dalits practiced by the dominant castes; discrimination within the Christian community against Dalits; reservations in employment.

The Jury:
The Jury was headed by justice VR Krishna Iyer, as its patron–in–chief and comprised justice Hosbet Suresh (former judge of the Bombay HC), justice K Punnaiah (former judge of the Andhra Pradesh HC and constitutional review committee member), justice Amir Das (former judge of the Patna HC), Dr. V Mohini Giri (former chairperson, National Commission for Women, NCW), Dr. Vasanthi Devi (former vice–chancellor), Ms. Rani Jethmalani and Ms. Sona Khan (both Advocates, Supreme Court) professor Kumud Pawde (Dalit woman writer) and Dr. RK Nayak IAS (retd).  Justice Rajinder Sachar (former chief justice, Delhi HC and a former UN special rapporteur) although on the jury, could not be present for the sittings but has agreed to be a part of the follow–up process. 

Hearing the Kambalapalli Carnage:
The first Jury sitting of the hearing, comprising nine members, heard the Kambalapalli carnage with four witnesses deposing before it. The witnesses included Mangammal who had escaped from the second house that was set on fire and whose husband was burnt to death in the first house. Venkatramayya, deposed how he had taken refuge in the house just behind his own house, while his two sons, daughter and wife were suffocated to death in the first house that was set on fire by the caste Hindu Reddys of the village. 

The depositions submitted in this case and the case records prepared by the organisers revealed how even the special court under the SC/ST Act had released, on anticipatory bail,  23 of the accused in the murder of the eldest son of Venkatramayya in the year 1998 and how this act of the judiciary had also contributed to the emboldening of the caste Hindu Reddys in the village. 

According to the witnesses who deposed, had the earlier case of murder of Venkatramanappa been dealt with seriously, both by the police and the judiciary, the present carnage would not have occurred. All the witnesses narrated how they had fled from the village after the carnage and that they would never return to Kambalapalli even though many of the them had lands of their own there. 

A senior journalist deposes:
P. Sainath, who has researched Dalit human rights violations in several states and had contributed over 34 articles to The Hindu, also addressed the joint sitting of the Jury on the second day. After 52 years of independence, he deposed, there is a far wider prevalence of untouchability. The forms of exclusion are many, sometimes visible, sometimes not. Dalits in an overwhelming majority of the villages in this country live in segregated villages and even experiments like the so called  ‘harmony villages’ have ended up with caste riots. 

Even the positioning of a Dalit section of the village is well thought out, he pointed out. Segregation also extends to education — in the classroom, during the mid–day meal etc. even leading children to speak in terms of justifying their position in the ‘social ladder’. 

Segregation is also present in the matter of water. The naming of a public transport corporation after a Dalit leader could lead to a village being set aflame, he said. He then dealt with law, police, courts and Dalits stating that all the accused in the Karamchedu massacre have been acquitted. In the most important massacre of independent Rajasthan in Kumher, where 23 Dalits were killed in 1992, after seven–and–a–half years, charges are yet to be framed against the accused. However, in the cases that were registered against the Dalits, charges were registered in months, he pointed out. 

Even in the setting up of the courts there is a structured, conscious discrimination. He then outlined the “steps after an atrocity” takes place. The first step is the paying of the entry fee in a police station which is only to enter the police station — Rs.250. The second step is the mediation stage which involves two processes: The first with the caste panchayat, which tries to pursuade the complainant into getting justice at their hands. The second is at the police station where again mediation is seriously attempted. The third step is when the Dalits really unite and struggle for justice and that’s when the FIR is finally registered — but once again for a fee, which sometimes ranges from Rs.2000 to Rs.6000.
However, this is invariably followed by a delay in the taking down of statements from the witnesses — so very crucial for the success of a criminal case. Most of the witnesses then turn hostile because they have to continue to live near the villains and there will be intimidation from the lower level bureaucracy in the form of mediation leading even the doctors who give medical evidence to turn hostile! 

The next important step is that of lawyers deserting them. Then you have the actual case hearings where one has to depend on the bench clerk to give you favourable dates for the hearings. After all this, the rate of conviction in cases of atrocities is very low — in Rajasthan it was 2.5 per cent — and that, too, only where the victims had the courage to pass through these various steps. 

Another system prevails in jails when there are mass arrests and when hundreds of under–trials are admitted in the jail. A new class of Dalits are arrested under Sec 109 IPC and they are kept in jail — until they clean up the vomit, the excreta, clean the jail completely. Then the cases are dropped till the jail needs another clean–up! The official figures of the SC/ST Commission point out that between 1981 and 1991 atrocities against Dalits went up by 23.24 per cent. 

In Rajasthan one Dalit woman is raped every 60 hours, one Dalit is murdered every 9 days, one Dalit suffers grievous injuries every 65 hours, one Dalit household suffers an arson attack every 5 days and other IPC offences are registered against a Dalit every 4 hours. In the High Court of Rajasthan, there are 1200 advocates registered, of whom 8 alone are Dalits of which only 6 practice! 

The Panchayats and Dalits was the next matter on which Sainath deposed outlining the 12 different methods of disenfranchising — by which the dominant caste defeats a Dalit Sarpanch — the Rajasthan method, the South Tamilnadu method, the Budelkhand method, the minority method, the Haryana method — all regional peculiarities! 

According to him, in the year 1998 Parliament discussed the 1988–89 report of the National SC/ST Commission. What is the relevance of the Commission then, he asked? The discrimination that Dalits are finding is not an accident. It is not an aberration but is deeply entrenched in the system; it is central to the caste system itself. It is not the bad behaviour of a few people. We cannot fight untouchability, he said, if we do not fight against the caste system. 

He finished with a sign of hope, stating,“I marvel the fortitude of our Dalit people, that in the face of this social blockade that they face in society, they have managed to achieve  incredible things, whether in the field of arts and culture or politics, and this has to be placed against the canvas of the obstacles. We live in a very privileged moment. We are witnessing the single greatest battle on planet earth for human dignity. 
We are talking about 170 million people. I have no doubt who will be the victors — where will we stand in that battle is what we have to decide.” 
A serving IAS Officer before the Jury:

Sainath was followed by Christudas Gandhi, IAS, now serving as the secretary, department for social reforms in Tamil Nadu and who had formerly been the secretary of the Adi Dravidar and tribal welfare department. An IAS officer in charge of the SC/ST department, he said, has three main responsibilities — the enforcing of the SC/ST Act, implementing/enforcing the rule of reservation and the  Special Component Plan. Under the SC/ST Act, the secretary is the nodal officer and he possesses a statutory responsibility and not an administrative one alone. There are serious difficulties that such an officer faces. 

An officer is supposed to work for the department’s good image! But when he does anything in regard to the effective implementation of the Act, he is perceived as a prejudiced and biased person although his specific duty under the Act is to be biased in favour of the Dalits. If he implements reservation, he is once again branded as a prejudiced man. If he happens to be a Dalit himself, he will then be branded as a casteist officer! He requested the Jury to take up this issue to ensure the free and fair exercise of authority by such authorities. 

There is a lacuna in the training and orientation of the IAS officers. There is no content training with regards to upholding the rights of the Dalits.  Many senior officers, even of the rank of chief secretary, home secretary and Adi Dravidar wefare secretary do not even know who an SC is and what the provisions of the SC/ ST Act are.

The Jury divided themselves into two benches and sat for the rest of the first day of the hearing and once again as two benches on the second day. The process followed in the hearing was that the cases would be presented by the victims in their respective languages and they would be assisted by jury prosecutors who would also function as translators for the jury and get relevant answers from the witnesses to the questions posed by the members of the jury panel. The Jury had also issued letters of invitations to the representatives of the State, and in one case from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu. The DSP responded to the same along with his inspector, which was greatly appreciated by the Jury panel. 
Implementation of the SC/ST (Protection of Atrocities) Act:

“On August 6, 1991, the town of Tsundur (Andra Pradesh) was the scene of one of the most brutal massacres of 8 Dalits that the country had witnessed,” stated Subba Rao, a witness from Tsundur. A charge sheet has been filed against 219 accused and nine years later the case is still to be taken up for trial. However, in the several cases that were registered against the Dalits by the State in the caste clashes that followed the massacre, Dalits have been convicted. This is the speed with which prosecutions against the Dalits take place, while the prosecutions under the SC/ST Act are yet to commence and the special public prosecutor yet to be appointed by the state of AP! 

L. Shanthakumar, a practicing advocate from Kurnool in AP, deposed about the special SC/ST Court (second additional  sessions) Kurnool ordering removal of charges in 40 cases  under the SC/ST Act and re-filing under ordinary IPC before the concerned judicial magistrate. He had also preferred a complaint in this regard to the NHRC which had ordered the registrar of the High Court of AP to initiate action in this matter.

Inter–caste marriage:
A star witness of the hearing was White, the DSP from Pudukottai district in Tamilnadu along with his inspector of police, Pon Sivananthan.  Both of them deposed, referring to their official files. Deposing along with them in the same case were Muthu (Dalit) and Selvi (a non–Dalit) They had both run away from their village deciding to consummate their love. Muthu was caught by the caste Hindus of his village along with his two friends, tied to trees, beaten, stripped naked, tonsured and then paraded naked around the village temple. 

A case under Sec 3(1)(x) of the SC/ ST Act was registered against the caste Hindu attackers but has now ended in an acquittal, only a few months after registering the same! 

On the contrary, Muthu was arrested and kept in judicial custody for several weeks on a complaint of kidnapping Selvi, preferred by Selvi’s father and supported by a medical certificate that she was only 14–years–old! This complaint is still pending even after two years! Muthu and Selvi were subsequently assisted in a legal  registered marriage and now have a child — who also attended the hearing with them. They are not employed since then because of the fury of the caste Hindus against them and they continue to live in fear. 

Manual Scavenging:
Despite the Employment of Manual Scavengers and the Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993, the practice of manual scavenging continues in modern India. Official estimates place the number of scavengers in the country as 4,00,000 and the official estimate for Gujarat is about 32,000. In Gujarat, manual scavengers are also listed as sweepers, thus misrepresenting the prevalence of manual scavenging. Jayesh Ramjibhai Parmar from Gujarat deposed on the problem, the public interest litigation that had been filed before the High Court and the order obtained directing that scavengers be reinstated into their jobs and the additional direction that the order be made applicable to the whole of Gujarat. Although the government has resolved the adoption of the Central government’s act in Gujarat, till date civic bodies continue to employ manual scavengers indicating a blatant defiance of a High Court order.

Witness Narayanamma from Andra Pradesh who works as a safai karmachari in the Ananthapur municipality for the past 19 years who also deposed before the Jury said, “I have to clean 400 seats of dry latrine every day amounting to 15–16 bamboo baskets of human excreta, each basket containing 12–13 kgs. My elder sister had no children. She brought me from our native place and made me marry her husband. She died after three years due to severe whooping cough and I had to adopt her work of manual scavenging because of heredity. My sister adopted the work of manual scavenging from her mother–in–law.” 

Social boycott:
The NPH also provided evidence of continuing social boycott in the country with the deposition of Ravjibhai Danabhai Madhad from Gujarat whose election to the Samajik Nyay Samiti (Social Justice Committee) of the Devalia Gram Panchayat ultimately led to an organised social boycott, planned attack in the village and encroaching on the common gaucher (grazing) land. 

The social boycott included cutting off the main pipeline supplying water to the Dalits, non–supply even of basic necessities and discontinuance of Dalit farm labourers. However, all this did not prompt any action from the officials and therefore the victims were forced to approach the NHRC, which passed very strong recommendations. These have been subsequently confirmed by the High Court of Gujarat. The social boycott however continues displaying blatant disregard of court and NHRC directives! There was also another case of social boycott provided from Gopayapalem of AP. 

State silence over massacres:
Witness Chunnilal from Rajasthan provided the most pathetic of examples of the inefficiency of the administration and the judicial commissions on atrocities against Dalits in the country. On June 6,1992, the Jatav  (Dalits) residents of Bara Mohalla, a Jatav stronghold of Kumher town, witnessed about 10,000 caste Hindu Jats, armed with swords, guns, country made pistols, blocking  all the entry points and attacked, setting fire to the place — all this despite the physical presence of 400 policemen who not only failed to take action but encouraged the mob to indulge in the same.

The chief secretary and the DGP were both present there in the fateful week when the occurrence took place – a failure that was also corroborated by the report of the BJP team of senior leaders who visited the site after the incident. As against the government claim that 17 Dalits were killed in this mass killing, the Dalits claim that 37 were killed and over 6,000 forced to flee their homes, 55 heads of cattle burnt, more than 50 houses burnt and over 250 houses partially burnt. 

The Lodha Commission of enquiry was ordered and inspite of its report having been submitted to the government three–and–a–half years ago, the report has not seen the light of the day.

State violence against Dalits:
There were several cases of state violence that were presented from various states. There was first the case against one Jagdiswar Prasad Singh, the additional district and sessions judge of Varanasi and others, accused of committing  the murder of one Dalit, Lalji Chaudhry s/o Ram Narain Chaudhry and seriously injuring 6 others on 3.3.99 in broad daylight. 

Even after the High Court’s order to transfer the case to the CBI, the same has not been carried out. The case is now transferred to Varanasi where the district judge functions and has been influencing the DIG and other police officials while continuing to serve as the district judge still!
There was then the case of excessive police force, police harassment and caste abuse provided by witness Sangamma from Kerala which led to the death of one Sreedharan and injury to several others in the police lathi charge. 

There were then the two cases of Gundupatti and Tirunelveli from Tamil Nadu — Gundupatti where the police and the ruling DMK party men were involved in an attack on Dalit houses and women folk in particular which led to the Murugesan Commission of Enquiry appointed by the government of Tamil Nadu and an enquiry led by Mohini Giri as the chairperson of the National Commission for Women. 

Till date the recommendations of the commission of inquiry which have been accepted by the government are yet to be implemented; Tirunelveli, where an attack by the police on a peaceful procession, largely comprising Dalits and  led by the leader of the Opposition of Tamil Nadu and in which six other MLAs including Dr. Krishnasamy, the leader of the Puthiya Tamilagam party also participated, was lathi charged by the police and led to the Tambaraparani river where 17 persons died and hundreds sustained injuries. 

They were later shown in the postmortem certificates to have died due to drowning. Many of the other injuries that they had sustained were not recorded. The most atrocious aspect of this case was that during the incident, the district collector and the DIG of police of Tirunelveli, who are responsible for the maintenance of law and order, were busy in the office of the district collector, conferring with their higher officials when the incident took place. 

From Rajasthan there was the case of illegal detention, humiliation and torture in police custody of Moti Lal Bairwas and his brother at Nangal Rajvatan police station on  October 6, 1999. From Bihar, the Jury had the complaint of two persons who died and one injured on August 7, 1999 in Patna when the mobile unit of the excise department fired on the inhabitants of Murlichak Musahari. The compensation to them under the SC/ST Atrocities Act has not been paid as yet. 

The closure of KGF:
Yet another important issue that was brought to the attention of the Jury was from Karnataka — the case of 4,200 workers, 30,000 families and children over 90 per cent of whom are Dalits working in the Kolar gold fields — all of whom face the threat of losing their livelihood along with their eviction from their homes, should the government of India succeed in closing down KGF, despite the evidence that the mines are still viable. The Karnataka High Court has granted an interim stay order on  April 3, 2000 extending the deadline to 31.05.2000.

Dalit women and their ordeals:
Besides the above, witness Pushpa of Uttar Pradesh provided evidence to the Jury about the rape in police custody of Lebra and the molestation of her daughter Kusuma at the Anatu police station on October 20, 1998. Now Lebra faces a case of theft so as to keep her silent about her sexual abuse. Inspite of her having approached the NHRC after all avenues were found useless, she is still to get a remedy. 

Thangamani alias Kunjamma provided evidence to the Jury of how on  November 4,1999 she was physically assaulted by six youth against whom she had lodged a complaint of nuisance with the police. Although finally an FIR was registered on the 12th, there has been no investigation and fearing continuous harassment and another attack, Thangammal has been forced to move with her family to her brother’s house. 

A very sensational moment for one of the Jury benches was when they heard the case of the sexual violence perpetrated against Surya, the daughter of Susheela, aged 10 years, from Kerala on 4.2.2000, which was deposed by the mother. Surya was forced into the accused’s bedroom, given pills and threatened with murder and raped, leaving her unconscious. Although a case has been registered under the SC/ST Act, she is yet to get the mandatory compensation.

Another case from Gujarat of violence against women was the attack on the women staff of Parivartan, a non–governmental organisation, which works among the Dalits of Vadodara district in Gujarat. An FIR was registered against the violators only after also registering an FIR against the women of Parivartan!

Other forms of untouchability:
The other cases that the Jury also had occasion to hear pertained to forms of untouchability from various states, discrimination in the electoral process in the Chidambaram Parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu, discrimination against Dalit Catholics in Eraiyur village of Pondicherry diocese, case of bonded labour and the evil practice of the Devadasi system that is prevalent in Karnataka state.

Encounter killings and Dalits:
K. Murali of the Human Rights Forum, Hyderabad, provided evidence of the killings of Dalits in alleged encounters by the police in the state of Andra Pradesh stating that 90 per cent of the victims of encounters were Dalits! The data presented before the Jury indicated clearly that in the three year period from 1991 to 1993, a total of 496 persons alleged to be naxalites were killed by the police. Of the 261 whose caste could be ascertained, only 9 were caste Hindus, 10 were Muslims, 15 were tribals and 227 belonged to the Dalit and backward castes. This is a representative data indicating that overwhelmingly large number of victims of encounter killings were from the oppressed caste groups.

The Jury’s interim observations:
The panel after hearing 68 witnesses in 56 cases addressed a press meet in Chennai wherein their preliminary observations were made public. The highlights are:

1)  Dalits are a broken people suppressed by “hidden apartheid”.
Despite the fact that untouchability was abolished under the Constitution,160 million Dalits of India live a precarious existence today, shunned by society because of their rank as Dalits, literally meaning ‘Broken People’. Dalit women face the triple burden of caste–class in gender relations. Sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women are used by landlords and police to inflict “political lessons” and crush dissent from within. Dalits have been threatened with physical abuse and assault, even death, in order to make them withdraw from political participation. Their campaign for the implementation of land reforms, minimum wages, reservations and abolition of manual scavenging has met with similar fate. Dalits in India continue to be victims of a “hidden apartheid.” 

2) The unholy nexus between the state and the dominant castes in all Dalit rights violations :

Despite the progressive Articles of the Constitution, the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, the rights of Dalits still continue to be violated. In several cases that were deposed before us we found that for the Dalits, rights are non–existent, or invisible to say the least. In several cases we heard that it is the law of the upper castes that prevails and that the State laws are subverted by the very authorities who are mandated and meant to enforce these laws. It is made evident by the depositions that none of the states have seriously implemented the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. We hold the government clearly responsible for the many acts of violations against Dalit human rights by its agents and instrument-alities.

3) The State has failed colossally in its task of protecting Dalits: 
Despite the fact that the Indian government enacted the PHRA and a special machinery was created to enforce this Act as well as the special courts constituted under the SC/ST (P & A) Act, it is made very evident from all the cases heard by the Jury that the State —

Ø continues to perpetuate violence against Dalits;

Ø colludes with the dominant castes in several areas across all the States.

Ø by its inaction, fails to implement all its laws and rules and to take stringent measures and action when dominant castes perpetrate atrocities on Dalits.

4) The police are a case of defenders turned violators:
The ignorance of and indifference to the SC/ST Act and other such laws requires radical steps to sensitise the law enforcement officers about the urgency and importance of the provisions of this Act. Prosecution should be proceeded with immediately against those who ignore the law.

In this respect we are constrained to observe that instead of 
empowerment of the Dalits, the law enforcing machinery has become the great abuser of the human rights of Dalits. This is because we found that in case after case the police have actively colluded with the upper castes to perpetrate and perpetuate violence against Dalits and have failed to provide them with adequate security against caste atrocities.

5) The urgent need for a code of conduct for State agencies:
It is shocking for us to find that in a case that came before the Jury, a judge has himself violated human rights and still continues in office. In  Uttar Pradesh, the sessions judge who murdered a Dalit has not yet been suspended and continues to function unhampered and unquestioned as a judge. A code of conduct for all state agencies, including the judiciary, in order to deal with cases of such gross violations of human rights against Dalits must be urgently formulated and implemented.  This is in conformity with the SC/ST Act and the special provisions in the Constitution abolishing such gross violations of Dalits’ human rights.

6) Manual scavenging — negation of Dalits’ dignity and rights:
Manual scavenging is abolished by statute but 7.9 lakhs Dalits are still forced to continue as manual scavengers. Most state governments do not seem to know even of the existence of the Act. Manual scavenging is the worst form of negating human rights and the dignity of Dalits. Being scavengers, they are forced to live in abject conditions although manual scavenging is prohibited by law. We also realised that even Dalits are  not aware of the existence of such a law. We consider this a serious violation of the human rights of the Dalits.

7) Political rights are denied to Dalits in self–governance: 
Political participation of Dalits in the institutions of local self–governance is obstructed by the dominant caste structure both by the state machinery and civil society. It is shocking to note the tendency to dislodge the heads of gram sabhas and panchayats elected from Dalit communities making a mockery of the reservation policy in local self–government. 

8) Political apartheid in mainstream politics:
Whenever Dalits have attempted to change the balance of power by contesting elections under the banner of their own political parties, their efforts have been met with brutal violence and actions by the ruling party alliance members, non–Dalit caste groups, the police and the state administration. This is done in a calculated fashion in order to negate their rights to be elected by a process of free and fair elections, like in the case of the DPI in the Chidambaram parliamentary  constituency in TN. This political apartheid in the country continues to be perpetuated despite India’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

9) Dalit rights are jettisoned in the Devadasi system:
Despite Article 14 of the Constitution and the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, there is still discrimination and continuation of such abhorrent practices such as the Devadasi system, which degrade and defile the dignity of women. In fact, this system continues to be perpetuated by upper caste groups in connivance with state agencies. 

As a result, women continue to exist in slavery and are sexually exploited as in the case of Devadasis, most of whom belong to the Dalit community. What is worse is that the children of these Dalit women are also exposed to this sexual exploitation.

10) Kambalapalli atrocities — Urgent state action for rights restoration:
The barbaric act of killing seven Dalits in Kambalapalli in Karnataka took place with the connivance of upper caste Reddys, the police, administration and the revenue officials. The Special Court under the Act also had its role to play. 

The pattern we observed is that after each such massacre the State has hardly taken any steps, required of them by law, to give confidence to the survivors to go back to their villages and live in dignity and assured of security of the protection of their life and property.

The Dalit witnesses from Kambalapalli village are living in fear and do not wish to go back to their own village. We recommend that efforts are taken by the State and social organisations to enable them go back and live in their own villages and be supported with necessary facilities in order to continue their livelihood;  to help them in restoring the loss of their houses and assets; and in cultivating their lands or in engaging themselves in any other remunerative occupations. 

It has become imperative for the government to come forward and ensure protection for their return back to the village with full security and also provide adequate safeguards till such time as they are properly settled in their own villages. If the Dalits, who have been forced to leave their land, themselves feel strongly against returning to their villages, then they should be properly accommodated in places of their choice by providing them with suitable means of protection.

11) Caste and untouchability: On par with racism and apartheid
The NHRC as well as UN should recognise that caste as an institution  itself is a source of gross violations of human rights and so it must be treated on par with the existence and operation of racism and apartheid. The caste system and the equally obnoxious practice of untouchability must therefore be taken seriously by the Indian and international communities and administrative bodies. 

Besides the above interim observations made  by the jury after their marathon sessions, a few specific recommendations were also made by them in relation to the following: denial of temple entry, brutal effects of inter–caste marriages, Kumher massacre victims’ demands, lands for Dalits in this era of globalisation, demands of the victims of the Tsundur killings, murder of a Dalit boy in Kerala, three Dalits poisoned in Rajasthan and safai karmacharis in the Mumbai municipal corporation. 

General Recommendations of the Jury:
Ø Implement the recommendations of the 49th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In particular, the government should implement the recommendation that “special measures be taken by the authorities to prevent acts of discrimination towards persons belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes, and in the case where such acts have been committed, to conduct thorough investigations, to punish those found responsible and provide just and adequate reparation to the victims”. 

Ø Take immediate steps to prevent further violence, social boycotts, and other forms of discrimination against Dalits and to investigate and punish those responsible for attacks and acts of discrimination in affected districts. Any officials or members of the police who fail to respond to repeated calls for protection from villagers, or fail to prosecute acts of violence or discrimination should also be prosecuted.

Ø Take decisive steps to ensure that police do not conduct raids on villages or engage in arbitrary and unlawful destruction and seizure of property in response to caste clashes.  Police involved in such activities should be promptly investigated by an independent judicial body and prosecuted accordingly.

Ø From the declared surplus land under the Land Ceiling Act, distribute a minimum of five acres of cultivable land to each Dalit household within three years. Encroachments on Dalit lands should be removed.  Land should also be allocated to them for the purposes of other economic activities required by them.

Ø Enact a comprehensive agricultural workers Act to provide job security, better working conditions and welfare measures to the agricultural labourers, including separate facilities to Dalit women agricultural labourers.

Ø Local government is a constitutionally based government. Elected Dalit representatives to local government bodies must be given required support and protection to enable them to function effectively.

The members of the Jury intend making detailed observations, findings and recommendations in each of the complaints that they had occasion to hear. After listening to the taped versions of the witnesses before the Jury, the findings of the Jury will then be presented to the Prime Minister, home minister, the chairpersons of the various national institutions and the respective state governments so that in each of the cases that were presented to the Public Hearing the victims do get some additional remedy for having presented their cases before the Jury at the NPH. 

(The writer is an advocate and Director, People’s Watch – Tamil Nadu, Madurai and And Working Secretary, National Public Hearing – NCDHR)

Henri Tiphagne 

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