Sexual Harassment in India
India’s Caste System
Casteism: discrimination against another person’s caste and origin.
Orthodox beliefs such as casteism lead to the formation of fogged preconceptions, caste-based slurs, identification reservation as undeserved theft, stereotypes, endogamy, child marriage, discriminatory designation of “dirty workers”, and more. This is one of India’s most blatant and eliciting issues. Ultimately, the caste system ranks the Hindu society in the following order; Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya, Shudras, and at the bottom, Dalits, the “outcastes”. According to studies in theology, the caste system dates back to times when the Aryans invaded India. This supposedly took place in 1500 BC. Even so, India seems to be attached to its biased roots. It is a common yet ludicrous belief that each caste needs to be treated with the respect that matches their ranking. Brahmins are associated with the jobs of teachers and priests so that they can pass on their wisdom to future generations. Kshatriyas take care of law and order, administration, paperwork, and public service. Vaishyas are classified as merchants, farms, and marketable jobs. The Shudra Varna is considered the laborer class. Finally, the Dalits, who are invalidated and are allotted the jobs of street workers, sewage, manual scavengers, garbage collectors, and more hazardous, treacherous, and highly underpaying jobs. Deplorably, this illogical and illegal preconception seems to interfere with jobs, denoting that even an eligible human being may want to persevere and work for a certain job, however, their caste group doesn’t allow this. It is contradictory that a “developing” country whose literacy rate is so low still chooses to believe in social barriers that can prevent a capable being from stepping up and accomplishing greater things. And after all of these backward misconceptions, we still don’t seem to understand why our country is suffering in a variety of areas.
Statistics and Data:
Even though bigotry based on caste has been outlawed in India, it is still a brazen issue in our community. In 2019 itself, over 45,000 cases were registered in court just for crimes committed against the Dalits. Examples of these crimes include gang rape, violence, murder, fatalities, attacks, hanging, Dalit properties being torched and burnt, collusion against the lower castes, and more. All of the above-mentioned crimes are acts AGAINST the SC/ST (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) which is meant to prevent any atrocities against the Dalits, however weak legislation and corrupt upper caste citizens have avoided and flouted the law. As of 2016, 129,831 cases are pending trial in court, and more than 16,000 police investigation cases are pending. In India, studies have shown that the conviction rates for rapists of Dalit women is under 2% in contrast to the conviction rate for rape cases in India for all women of 25%. Dalits are not given the representation or the opportunities the majority of India does. These investigated cases are offenses to several laws apart from the SC/ST and Article 17. Reports and documents are constantly coming in from the United Nations or NGOs, however, numbers keep rising and less action is being taken. Statistics have shown that at least 4–7 Dalit Women are raped every single day on average. Older statistics display that 13 Dalits are murdered every week. 5 Dalit homes are torched, destroyed, or looted each week. 6 Dalit people are kidnapped or captured every single week. And around 21 Dalit women are raped every week.
Detailed Case of Violence
On the date, September 14th, a Dalit girl named Manisha Valmiki (19-years-old), was viciously gang-raped in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. The result of this pitiless act of violence was death. The suspected upper-caste rapists caused her to bite her tongue, and had broken her spine, absolutely paralyzing her. After battling her death for 2 weeks, she finally passed on the 29th of September. She was dragged into the scene when somebody caught hold of her dupatta and hauled her. It has been claimed that she bit her tongue when she was being held down and beaten up leading to a large cut on her tongue. As per reports, Manisha’s body was covered in blood lying down. Post this infuriating scene, she was rushed to the hospital, where doctors refused to give her the best treatment they could, and they refused to admit that it was sexual assault. Atop of this mayhem and injustice, the media did not cover this incredibly classist, disgusting, and deplorable news and some news channel shared a biased and unbelievable perspective on the event, leading the masses to anger. Only after people educated themselves on this issue, a general consensus was decided; that justice needed to be served. All 4 rapists have now been charged and sentenced to jail. Even after this wicked incident took place, Manisha’s body was cremated in the middle of the night without her family’s requests or presence. This level of injustice and bias led to protests breaking out all over the country. Article 17 in the Indian Constitution states that “Untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of “Untouchability” shall be an offense punishable in accordance with the law. Per this law, there needs to be more action taken against rapists, doctors who refused to look at her for some time, and anyone else involved in the act of the inequality she faced. This is not the first rape case concerning a Dalit. Not every rape case is registered or reported. Thousands of Dalits may be vulnerable to sexual assault or violence. Why are Dalits the most vulnerable? Society’s answer is because they eat in front of upper-caste men, or they are walking by a street upper-caste society may be walking past, or they may be living their life, but that may seem too big an offense and a danger factor to privileged upper-caste people around Dalits. Ostracizing, stigmatizing, and grouping people based on their preconceived merits has led to thousands of deaths of acquitted human beings. We should consider cases such as Sanjay Danane’s where he was made to look as if he himself committed suicide when it was really a group of upper-classmen that strangled him to death. Else, take Manik Udage’s case where he was beaten to death by a steel rod because he organized a ceremony to celebrate Dr. Ambedkar’s birthday (Dr. Ambedkar used to be a social activist for Dalits who tried to arrange opportunities for them). These kinds of innocent people are being beaten to death because of irrational prehistorical religious beliefs that separate humanity instead of bringing it together.
Ways to Overcome Casteism
A lot of upper-caste men such as Brahmins and Vaishyas believe that casteism is a myth and that untouchability is a thing of the past in India. This clearly depicts privileged individuals’ “it doesn’t happen to me; therefore, I can conclude that it doesn’t happen at all”. Therefore, the first step towards eradicating casteism to a certain extent is to EDUCATE people from all over the country, no matter their caste, age, nationality, or finances. Everybody deserved the right to free education on social issues like this. Breaking down the main sources of false information or lack of information is ideal. My first approach is to either have all news channels explain what casteism is at the base level without any opinions, and give the right information on it. Else, begin by introducing the topic to people who watch the news so that they are more aware. After this, we must understand that calling some people out by their caste and addressing them by their caste is derogatory. The words caste, class, untouchable, etc. need to be considered unsaid words so that fewer people use them which leads to less stigmatization. Furthermore, we need the concept of reservation to be clarified in society more. Reservation for those of lower castes exists because, without this, they would be broke, get no opportunities in life, and no recognition. However, many “upper-caste people” who are uneducated about the purpose of reservation believe that it is unnecessary and it doesn’t allow people to be recruited based on their merits. Ironically, people of lower castes aren’t provided jobs based on THEIR merit, therefore reservation is essential. Believing that casteism is no longer an issue denies affirmative future action. In addition to this, all people no matter their caste should be provided economical equity. By this, I mean that no matter one’s caste, an individual who may be a Shudra or a Dalit should be able to get the same benefit of the scope of financial stability as a Brahmin or Vaishya. This is my input on the issue of caste discrimination and how it can be eliminated… but it would take a lot of cooperation to get to some level of equality which is why progression in society has been slow in the past decade.
