The gruesome manner in which a 19 year old dalit woman was gang raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh is rarely seen. Perhaps, the ghastliness of this incident has surpassed even the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi 10 years ago or even the rape and murder of the Dalit woman in Hyderabad a few years back. The Dalit woman of Hathras was not only gang-raped, her tongue was slashed and was made incapacitated thru’ inhuman torture. When her family took her to the police station after the 14th September incident, police initially refused to register a rape complaint. A case of rape was registered only after 8 days on 22nd September when the incident started to gain attention in social media. Police then arrested four upper caste men. Where the law states that a medical examination of the victim has to be conducted immediately after rape, the examination was finally carried out after 11 days. Forensic tests for rape were conducted on 25th September. Obviously, it is extremely difficult to prove rape with forensic tests after so many days and armed with the result of the tests, the police claimed that the woman in question was not raped at all.
The reason behind this atrocity of the police is the dominance of upper castes in the police and administration of Uttar Pradesh. And why just UP? The different organs of the ruling apparatus in India still suffers from the domineering influence of upper castes. And the woman raped belonged to a poor dalit family. Moreover, the family belongs to the Valmiki community, whose status in caste hierarchy is very low even in Dalit community. People belonging to the Valmiki community are still primarily engaged in sanitation work. So the rape and death of a woman belonging to such a poor dalit community hardly evinced any reaction from the police and administration who remain in the clutches of upper castes. UP police tried to shove this incident under the carpet from the very beginning. They had been especially busy proving no rape had occurred and extremely assiduous in eliminating all evidences so that the incident might be forgotten swiftly and the accused could return to their village to resume their habitual oppression. Which explains why the police and administration brought the dead body of the girl back to the village in the dead of the night and cremated her (read – burnt ) hurriedly in the fields. The very police who never provide security to dalit women kept a huge contingent of police in the village that night and after. Why? So that the family and villagers do not disrupt ‘law and order’! The police forcefully kept the family locked up in their house and conducted this mischief by not allowing the family performing any rituals.
Some prominent reactions of the upper castes regarding this incident reveal their disgusting attitude of upper-caste mentality and caste dominance. Far from being ashamed at the monstrosity and horror of the crime, some upper caste organizations of UP have already embarked on protests, agitations and deputations to protect the accused. For them, the dalits are not humans, their lives do not matter and dalit women deserve no respect. As per a report, an upper caste man of this village had commented “These people have started to belittle us too much (yeh log jyada sar par chaar gaye hamare)”. So, they have been working hard for complete submission of these dalits. This is the real picture of transformation of balance of power of castes after the ascent of BJP and Sangh Parivar in UP.
On the other hand, it is true that protests and agitations against this heinous crime have also begun. The Valmiki community, to which the woman belongs, has erupted in anger. In the municipalities of Hindi heartland, they are primarily involved in the sanitation & scavenging works. These municipal workers have demonstrated and gone on strike in different towns. Different other organizations have launched protests and agitations too. Yet, we cannot put aside a critical question. This particular incident started gaining attention in the media nearly 2 weeks after its occurrence. Protests and agitations began even after, mostly after the women's death. The spontaneous protests seen during the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi or even during the gang-rape incident of the Hyderabad woman was not observed this time. Had this incident happened in an upper caste/middle class family in a big city instead of a Dalit woman in a remote UP village, would this happen? Doesn't this manifest the upper class people’s complete disregard of the upper caste’s oppression against dalits?
Secondly, even in the sphere of protests, we are witnessing the same hackneyed repetition. In the frontline of these agitations remain the established bourgeoisie political parties who all were in power at some time or the other. When these parties were in power (it is a waste of time and energy to speak about Congress), even those that claim to be representatives of backward castes like SP, BSP, there had been not much change in the condition of dalits. The same tales of rape and murder and tyranny repeated. All established political parties will exploit these protests to gain political power and the same episodes will keep continuing.
But apart from these established political parties, the common people are also protesting. And even here, the same demands as surfaced previously are being reiterated. Some are demanding execution by hanging of all the guilty, some want Hyderabad-like encounter style deaths and some want exceptional punishment to deter such crimes. Many changes in the law had been made under pressure from such agitations. But have all these measures helped reduce crimes against women in any way? Have rape cases decreased? Rape cases show no signs of decline.
Instead, an even bigger aspect is not to view this incident as only a rape offense against a woman. This is actually a manifestation of the living, breathing oppression of upper castes in India. 73 years have passed since ‘Independence’. Laws had been made banning oppression on dalits and backward castes by the upper castes. Those laws had been made stringent with the passage of time. But the reality is, oppression of upper castes have not ceased. The real cause behind the basis of the dominance of upper castes is the presence of the remnants of the old feudal society, which exists in good measure throughout India – somewhere more and somewhere less. The actual origin of the power of upper castes is their overall domination over the ownership of land. Upon this stands the domination of upper castes with respect to balance of power in rural areas and as a result of which, the domineering influence of upper castes in every level of the State. The upper castes draw their ideological strength from ancient rules and laws, rituals and institutions of Hindu society where Brahmins and Kshatriyas rule the roost. This oppression of the upper castes cannot and will not cease to exist unless this domination is razed to the ground. It is not mere theoretical prattle that that this upper caste domination will not end through votes or a change in government. The experiences of the last 40-50 years brutally uphold this fact. We have witnessed the history of the rise of the parties representing the backward castes within the boundaries of parliamentary politics during this phase. There is only one path – to crush all feudal forces/power, to eliminate them – this too shall conspire not through reforms, but through revolutionary class struggle of workers-peasants and toiling people – that revolutionary struggle which will dawn throughout India today or tomorrow, and the dalits with all their strength will participate in it because they constitute the majority of the oppressed & exploited masses of India. The thoughts and efforts of those that are truly sincere towards the cause of annihilation of caste oppression, have to be veered from the present parliamentary constraints to a revolutionary transformation of India. Dalit men and women shall not be emancipated through the hanging of a few upper caste criminals, the present system needs to be hanged too.
2nd October 2020.
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