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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

..:: Stop Atrocity ::..

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Public Talk on- "BSP Strategies and its relevance to Maharashtra" - Christophe Jaffrelot, France

Venue: Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan, Maaldhakka, Pune Date: 15th February, 2008 Time: 6.00 pm

Track Khairlanji Massacre

Khairlanji Massacre: How long will caste kill and rape humans?

On 26th September 2006, four members of Bhotmange family were killed brutally. Before killing them, mother and daughter were humiliated by parading them naked by a mob consisting of men and women. The only surviving member of the family of four, the head of family, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, claims that his wife and daughter were gangraped.

This incidence again proved that caste based hatred is the reality of Indian social life. It showed that hidden apatheid exists in India even after 59 years of her independence.

Stop Atrocity

Caste is the longest surviving human institution in which human beings are discriminated based on their birth. This system of slavery and hatred is sanctified by religious scriptures that support graded inequality. This artificial gradation results into many problems and at times atrocities which civil societies cannot withstand.

Caste, as a notion of mind, places limitation on development of human personality. According to state reports, many human beings suffer due to its manifestations such as untouchability, atrocities and hatred all over India. Hundreds of men and women are dehumanised and brutally killed in the name of caste. These killings can be termed as "holocaste".

More on caste at anti-caste

Graphical representation of caste system

BroadCaste

Rights of Dalits and Indigenous Tribal Groups
In March 2007, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged the government to take effective measures to protect Dalits and tribal groups. Dalits and indigenous peoples (known as Scheduled Tribes or adivasis) continue to face discrimination, exclusion, and acts of communal violence. Laws and policies adopted by the Indian government provide a strong basis for protection, but are not being faithfully implemented by local authorities. Instead of addressing these concerns, the Indian government insists that caste is not the same as race and therefore discrimination based on caste and tribe falls outside the mandate of CERD.

http://hrw.org/englishwr2k8/docs/2008/01/31/india17605.htm

Facts and Figures

Every 18 minutes:

A crime is committed against a Dalit

Every day:

3 Dalit women are raped
2 Dalits are murdered & 2 Dalits Houses are burnt in India
11 Dalits are beaten

Every week:

13 Dalits are murdered
5 Dalits home or possessions are burnt
6 Dalits are kidnapped or abducted

Social and Economic condition of Dalits:

37 percent of Dalits living below poverty in India
More than half (54%) of their children are undernourished in India
83 per 1000 live birth children born in Dalit community are probability of dying before the first birthday
45 percent of Dalits do not know read and write in India
Dalits women burden double discrimination (gender and caste) in India
Only 27 percent of Dalits women give institutional deliveries in India
About one third of Dalit households do not have basic facilities
Public health workers refused to visit Dalit homes in 33% of villages
Dalits were prevented from entering police station in 27.6% of villages
Dalit children had to sit separately while eating in 37.8% of Govt. schools
Dalits didn’t get mail delivered to their homes in 23.5% of villages
Dalits were denied access to water sources in 48.4% of villages because of segregation & untouchabilty practices
Half of India’s Dalit children are undernourished, 21% are severely underweight & 12% DIE before their 5^th birthday
Literacy rates for Dalit women are as low as 37.8% In Rural India

Status of Prevention of Atrocities Act:

The conviction rate under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act is 15.71% and pendency is as high as 85.37%. This when the Act has strict provisions aimed as a deterrent. By contrast, conviction rate under IPC is over 40%

On actual crime committed against Dalits

“Even the reports prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and placed before Parliament contain merely factual information received from States about registration and disposal of cases; various administrative arrangements made for the function of the Act and funds spent, without any meaningful analysis of the performance of the States which could form the basis for making corrective interventions." “Under-reporting of Atrocities Act cases is a very common phenomenon and therefore the decline in the number of registered cases does not provide a true picture of the incidence of atrocities.”

“A large number of cases which deserve to be registered under Protection of Civil Rights Act or the SCs & STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are not actually registered under these Acts, either due to ignorance of law or under pressure from the interested parties. Investigations in even those limited number of cases is often earned out in a slipshod manner and with considerable delay.”

Source: National Human Rights Commission Report on the Prevention and Atrocities against Scheduled Castes

http://www.nhrc.nic.in/Publications/reportKBSaxena.pdf