anti-caste

TWO TEENAGE UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS GANG-RAPED AND HANGED WHILE POLICE DISMISS FATHER’S PLEAS FOR HELP

India arrests five after raped women hung from mango tree (Telegraph (U.K.))

“Five men, including two police officers, have been arrested in relation to the gang-rape and murder of two teenage cousins found hanging from a tree in northern India earlier this week.

“The girls, aged 14 and 15, who are members of India’s lowest dalit ‘untouchable’ caste, had been kidnapped by a upper caste men on Tuesday evening after they left their homes to go to the toilet in a nearby field. Their families searched in vain for them and they were found dead the following morning.

“The images of their bodies hanging from a mango tree caused revulsion throughout the world and highlighted the violence and persecution suffered by ‘dalits’ in India’s Hindu caste system. [...]

“The arrest of two police officers for alleged complicity in the murders and dereliction of duty followed a complaint by the father of one of the victims who said when he reported his daughter missing he was abused by local constables who refused to search for her. His daughter could have been saved had the police reacted quickly to his request, he said.

“The father claimed caste prejudice – the police officers arrested are from the same higher Yadav caste as the three men accused of the girls’ rape and murder – was a factor in their attitude.”

See also:

‘Our ambitious girl’: The village where cousins were raped and hanged (BBC, May 30, 2014):

“The mother of the younger girl showed me her daughter's school notebooks lined with neat Hindi script.

“She said that her daughter always wanted to do something more with her life than get married. She wanted to work and get a job.

“‘She wanted to study until college just like the boys in the village,’ her mother said.

“She had told her daughter that she would be allowed to progress with her studies unhindered because she was the youngest girl in the family.

“The mother said that in her generation women did not work but they have tried hard to educate their children.

“She was composed but also full of anger. The mother of the older girl was howling and unable to speak. [...]

“The girl's father is poor farm labourer.

“When he went to the police outpost at the village one of the men seen by the neighbour harassing his daughter was with them.

“The father claims that police then ridiculed him for his low-caste status. ‘The first thing I was asked was my caste. When I told them they started abusing me,’ he said.

“Even though the accused and the victims are from the same broad category known as ‘Other backward classes’ the victims were lower down within that hierarchy.

“The father said he had to go down on all fours and literally beg the police.

“He said the officers and the man with them kept laughing and told them to go home and the girls would be back in two hours.”

REPORT DETAILS SYSTEMATIC BIGOTRY AGAINST UNTOUCHABLE, MUSLIM, AND TRIBAL SCHOOLCHILDREN

India: Marginalized Children Denied Education (Human Rights Watch press release)

“The 77-page report, ‘‘They Say We’re Dirty’: Denying an Education to India’s Marginalized,’ documents discrimination by school authorities in four Indian states against Dalit, tribal, and Muslim children. The discrimination creates an unwelcome atmosphere that can lead to truancy and eventually may lead the child to stop going to school.

[...]

“‘The teacher tells us to sit on the other side,’ said ‘Pankaj,’ an eight-year-old tribal boy from Uttar Pradesh. ‘If we sit with others, she scolds us and asks us to sit separately. The teacher doesn’t sit with us because she says we “are dirty.”’

“Marginalized groups continue to face discrimination in India despite constitutional guarantees and laws prohibiting discrimination, Human Rights Watch said. School authorities reinforce age-old discriminatory attitudes based on caste, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Children from Dalit, tribal, and Muslim communities are often made to sit at the back of the class or in separate rooms, insulted by the use of derogatory names, denied leadership roles, and served food last.They are even told to clean toilets, while children from traditionally privileged groups are not. [...]

Selected Quotes

“‘Whenever the teachers are angry, they call us Mullahs. The Hindu boys also call us Mullahs because our fathers have beards. We feel insulted when they refer to us like this.’ – Javed, a 10-year-old Muslim boy, Delhi

“‘The teacher always made us sit in a corner of the room, and would throw keys at us [when she was angry]. We only got food if anything was left after other children were served…. [G]radually [we] stopped going to school.’ – Shyam, a 14-year-old Dalit boy, Uttar Pradesh

“‘We were asked to massage a teacher’s legs. If we refused, he used to beat us. There was a toilet for teachers, which is the one we had to clean.’ – Naresh, a 12-year-old Dalit boy, Bihar”

A THOUSAND HONOR KILLINGS REPORTED EACH YEAR IN INDIA AND A THOUSAND MORE IN PAKISTAN

India and Pakistan Account For 2000 Honour Killings Every Year (International Business Times)

“Honour killing is the murder of a person accused of bringing shame upon his or her family.

“Out of the 5000 honour killings that occur internationally each year, about 1000 happen in India, and 1000 take place in Pakistan, according to international digital resource centre Honour Based Violence Awareness (HBVA).

“However, where the central criminal justice system is weak or unaffordable, honour killings may be ordered through informal legal systems. This makes the statistics unreliable, as the number of honour killings per year might be much higher than the official reports say.”

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF UNTOUCHABLE COMMUNITY OVER APPLICATION FOR JOB OF SCHOOL COOK THAT WOULD VIOLATE CASTE-BASED TABOO

Shunned Dalits left begging for water after upper caste villager boycott (Daily Mail, UK)

“At a time when India was celebrating 65th Republic Day, four Dalit families of a Karnataka village [...] were begging for water and groceries after their fellow upper caste villagers boycotted them.

“Their sin was celebrating Sankranti ahead of its schedule and applying for the post of midday meal cook at a government school in Kolar district’s Kagganahalli village, just over 100km from Bangalore. [...]

“The Dalit community was asked not to apply for the cook’s post in the school, as other communities might not approve of it.

“A fine of Rs 501 on the families found socialising with Dalits; a penalty of Rs 1,001 for sharing water with them; prohibiting grocery shop owners from selling anything to the Dalit families - all these diktats were announced in the village.

“Sixteen Dalit families reside on the periphery of the village. The families of Muniswamappa, Munivenkatappa, Papanna and Krishnappa are now facing a social boycott.”

MAN SEEKING 100,000 Rs. IN DAMAGES TO COMPENSATE HIS LOSS OF SOCIAL STANDING AFTER SON’S MARRIAGE TO LOWER-CASTE WOMAN

Father sues son for marrying outside caste (AFP)

“A father in Bihar is suing his only son for defamation after he married a woman from a lower caste, saying he has damaged his reputation and social standing.

“Sidhnath Sharma is seeking one lakh in damages from his son Sushant Jasu and wants to prevent him from using the family surname. A court will hear his case this weekend.

“‘For ages, it has been an accepted tradition of arranged marriages within your own caste,’ Mr Sharma, a lawyer from the upper-case Bhumihar group told news agency AFP from his home in the town of Danapur, just outside Patna.

“‘But when my only son ended that, it not only stunned me, it also affected my social status,’ Mr Sharma said on Tuesday.

“His son, a tax official who works in the western state of Gujarat, married his now wife, a bank officer from Danapur, last November.”

INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE IS DANGEROUS AND VERY RARE

Indian couple defy taboo in inter-caste love story (AFP)

“Indian law prevents discrimination against inter-caste marriage, but, in reality, many remain resistant to such unions in a country where, despite social change and rapid modernisation, tradition still holds sway.

“So-called ‘honour killings’ in which couples are shot, stabbed, lynched or poisoned are still carried out, although in decreasing numbers, as families attempt to defend their reputation thought sullied by a breach of strict caste-based rules. [...]

“Such prejudices mean such inter-caste marriages are few, although the numbers are growing, albeit slowly. Government figures show 9,623 marriages were recorded in 2012 between Dalits and partners from higher groups, compared to 7,617 the year before — a small figure in a country of 1.2 billion people where getting married is considered paramount.

“Local newspapers are full of advertisements from parents seeking partners for their son or daughter from the same caste, and arranged marriages are still common.

“‘Parents may agree with their child's choice (of partner),’ Srinivas Goli, a professor at the Giri Institute of Development Studies in the northern city of Lucknow, tells AFP. ‘But the families’ concerns about the reputation and respect for their families (by the community) often force them to go against’ their child’s choice in such cases, he says.

“Some families themselves fear marginalisation and even physical harm from the rest of the community, particularly in rural and remote areas, if they stand by their children's choices to break caste rules.

“In northern India, male-dominated khap panchayats or village committees wield huge influence in such matters and often act as a kind of moral police.

“Some issue outright bans on inter-caste marriages, while at the same time supporting child marriages within the same caste, according to women’s rights activist Jagmati Sangwan.

“In Haryana state, for example, where khap panchayats are dominant, Dalits are almost entirely landless. And Dalits marrying into higher castes threaten to ‘change the balance of power’ that has been in place for generations, says Sangwan.”

CASTE-HINDU LANDLORDS USE VIOLENCE AND THREATS TO GRAB LAND BELONGING TO UNTOUCHABLE FAMILY

Dalit family flees after feudal lords capture their land (Times of India)

“A dalit family from remote Harpura village of Sarwar block of the district are trying to get shelter going from one village to another these days. They were thrashed and threatened not to enter their village again by feudal lords (samants) so that they can take over their land.

“Dalit Kanaram has a small piece of land in Harpura village and he ploughs the land to grow crops and support his family. ‘On January 3, when I went to dump the cattle dung in the field near my house, Kishanlal Jat, Jagdish Jat and others came and told me that the land belongs to them. When I opposed them, they started hitting me and broke my nose.’

“‘They also hit me on my chest and on parts of my thigh after which I get severe bruises. They threatened to leave the village in 24 hours or to face consequences,’ said Rameshwari Devi, wife of Kanaram.

“She added that during the night, the samants came to her house and beat her husband Kanaram, their eight year-old son Govind and seven-year-old Vishnu and one of her sons got a fracture in his hand, ‘After the beating, we fled from our house early in the morning and went to our relatives’ place. We also approached Sawar police station and after making few rounds, they registered a complaint. Considering the threat, we have no courage to enter own village and house,’ Rameshwari said.

“The woman is worried that since last one week their sons are not able to attend school and are not studying. She added that they left their cattle behind and no one is there to feed them. ‘We cannot live all our life with our relatives and therefore wanted to return back to our village,’ she said. [...]

“The Jats are dominating in this zone and the conflict there is mostly on land as the Bisalpur dam is nearby, the underground water level is good and bear good crops.”

“CHAMAR, WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ME?”: RAPE OF UNTOUCHABLE WOMAN IN NORTH INDIAN VILLAGE EXEMPLIFIES THE VIOLENCE OF CASTE

India Rape Cases Colored by Caste (Wall Street Journal)

“Lalasa Devi says that before her attacker grabbed her by the throat, he snarled ‘Chamar,’ the name of the so-called untouchable caste into which she was born. ‘What can you do to me?’

“Then he threw her to the ground and raped her, she says.

“Ms. Devi, a mother of four in her mid-30s, says authorities treated her poorly when she registered a complaint against her alleged assailant, who belongs to a high caste in this small northern Indian village. Nine months after the alleged rape, the man she accused is free on bail, and it isn't clear when a trial will begin.

“‘I’m dying of shame,” she said in a recent interview, covering her head with the corner of her sari. “All I had was my honor... you lose that, you have nothing.” [...]

“Rural, lower-caste women such as Ms. Devi also face pervasive and deeply rooted discrimination against those once called "untouchables"—now known as Dalits, or oppressed people. ‘It’s the mind-set of the dominant castes,’ says Deepika, a Dalit-rights activist in New Delhi who uses only one name. ‘To them, raping a Dalit woman is not a sin.’

“A court in the western state of Rajasthan in 1995 acquitted five men of rape,saying upper-caste men couldn’t have raped a Dalit. The state has asked a higher court to review that case—a request that is still pending.

“Ms. Devi’s home village, Dalan Chapara, has a population of about 1,250, nearly all members of Ms. Devi's Chamar caste, whose forebears were leather tanners, and of the accused’s Rajput caste of traditional landowners.

“A gravel road running through the village divides the castes. For the most part, the Rajput houses are built from concrete and the Dalit houses have thatched roofs. There is no marriage across caste lines.

“Villagers said Dalits aren’t allowed in the homes of higher-caste neighbors. At community events, there is segregated seating and separate sets of glasses and tableware are used. Rajput visitors to Dalit homes won’t eat or drink.

“‘Constitutionally, everyone has equal rights,’ says Bipin Chand, a Dalit primary-school teacher who lives in the village. ‘But socially there is no equality.’”

INTER-CASTE COUPLE ATTACKED BY CASTE-HINDU MOB AFTER COMPLAINING OF SOCIAL BOYCOTT

Dharmapuri Inter-caste Couple Allege Attack by Locals (Express News Service)

“G. Suresh, a youth belonging to the intermediate caste and a resident of Veppamarathoor village, married S. Sudha, a Dalit girl of Parayapatti village in Harur taluk, on April 21, 2010 with the consent of their parents.

“While their life was going smooth for two years, trouble started confronting the couple as villagers of Vepamarathoor came to know that Sudha belonged to a Dalit community. Subsequently, villagers ostracised the family of the couple.

“Sudha lodged a complaint with the Bommidi police and a case was registered against 22 persons, including former village panchayat president Ranganathan. However, police did not take any action on the accused.

“As cops did not provide a remedy to their problem, Sudha knocked the doors of Madras High Court on July 26, 2013, seeking adequate protection. The High Court directed the local administration and police to provide protection to the family.

“The couple also petitioned the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC), which directed the district administration and police to intervene into the issue.

“Following the NCSC direction, Revenue Divisional Officer Menaka, Harur DSP V Sampath visited Veppamarathor village to inquire into the issue. Soon after the officials left the village, villagers reportedly attacked the family members of Sudha.”

See also an earlier anti-caste post on this case:

INTER-CASTE COUPLE FACES SOCIAL BOYCOTT (July 19, 2013)

YET ANOTHER VICTIM OF CASTE BIAS AT AN ELITE UNIVERSITY DRIVEN TO SUICIDE

Report on Recent Dalit Student Suicides at University of Hyderabad (Raju-Venkatesh Solidarity Committee, an alliance of students at the University of Hyderabad)

“On 24th November 2013, Madari Venkatesh, a 3rd year PhD scholar, from Advance Centre for Research in High Energy (ACRHEM), University of Hyderabad (UoH), committed suicide in his hostel room in the campus. Venkatesh came from a Dalit family from Ibrahimpatnam, Andhra Pradesh; probably, a first generation university student. [...]

“M. Venkatesh, after joining UoH for PhD, was not provided a guide and a lab, even after three years, even when other students had started their researches, and published international papers. ACRHEM director, the faculty members, and the management of the university grossly neglected to provide basic academic facilities to a research scholar, thereby, implying a casteist bias in the functioning of the University. Although continuous efforts were made by the deceased in July 2013, through a written request, to provide him a regular guide; his pleas were counter-signed, by the Vice Chancellor (who was the in-charge Director), only to be put in abeyance. In the wake of recurrent suicides in the campus, especially, of marginalized students, student groups came together under the banner ‘Raju-Venkatesh Solidarity Committee.’ [...]

“Venkatesh was worried about the non-allotment of supervisor, and therefore, this must have contributed to the slow pace of his work. However, Venkatesh could publish one paper in a reputed journal, and was about to publish two more. After Prof. S.P. Tewari's retirement, he approached many faculty members, and they had rejected to offer him guidance. On Friday (22nd November 2013), he met a faculty member in school of chemistry, with a request to guide him, and the faculty told him to start the work from the beginning. [...]

“In summary, ACRHEM allotted Prof. Tewari, two years before his retirement, as a guide to Mr. Venkatesh. This is unofficial, and clearly violates the UGC norms, as well as, the University institutional guidelines, as any about-to-be-retiring faculty should not take any new students for guidance. Further, even after repeated pleas by the deceased, efforts were neither made by the director nor the faculty, for the last three years, to allot an official guide, as well as, constitute a doctoral committee for Mr. Venkatesh. [...]

“Even after death, none of the university authorities showed any inclination to console the family members of Mr. Venkatesh. This case is not alone in its occurrence. The problem is cases like this ominously recur.

“Mr. Venkatesh's suicide represents a clear case of discrimination against the marginalized students, especially Dalits, in the campus. Two other Dalit students had committed suicide in similar circumstances: Pulyala Raju from MA Applied Linguistics, from Andhra Pradesh, in April 2013, and Senthil Kumar, a Dalit PhD research scholar in Physics, from Tamil Nadu in April 2008.”

See also:

Report of the Fact Finding Committee on the suicide of Mr Venkatesh, Ph D Student, University of Hyderabad (Centre for Dalit Studies (CDS), Hyderabad, India)

And see all anti-caste posts on
dalit student suicides at elite schools

TWO CASES SHED LIGHT ON FORCED CHILD MARRIAGE

Two child marriages prevented in Sivaganga (The Hindu)

“Social Defence and Child Welfare Committee officials on Wednesday rescued two prospective child brides, including a 15-year-old Dalit girl, after stopping arrangements being made for their marriages in Sivaganga district. [...]

“At Singampunari near Tirupattur, a 16-year-old Class X dropout was about to be married to Manikandan, a 32-year-old hairdresser on Thursday.

“A 15-year-old Plus One student from T. Pudupatti was scheduled to marry her maternal uncle Sundarapandian (33), working as a bearer in a hotel in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at Olugamangalam on Friday. [...]

“[The District Probation Officer, Department of Social Defence] said the 16-year-old girl’s stepmother had alleged that the girl was in love with a boy and she wanted to marry her off to a man of their community. [...]

“He said the 15-year-old Dalit girl had scored 450 out of 500 marks in Class X exams and taken up the first group in Plus One. Her father, who was working in Dubai, sent only Rs.6,000 once in three months to the family. Her mother, a construction worker, was finding it difficult to educate her.”

ENRAGED BY AN ACCIDENTAL PHONE CALL FROM AN UNTOUCHABLE STUDENT, TEACHER DELIVERS A HUMILIATING PUBLIC PUNISHMENT

Dalit boy slapped with slippers in Karuvapulam school (The Hindu)

“When Ramesh (name changed) bought a new phone last week, he did not realise that an unexpected technical glitch would trigger a caste-dictated backlash from his teacher at a government higher secondary school here.

“An innocuous call to his friend Kumar (name changed) to exchange his new number on the night of November 7 went to his teacher due to call divert facility. The unexpected technical glitch and the ensuing friendly banter by an unaware Ramesh did not go down well with the teacher P. Arul, a temporary hand appointed by the Parent-Teachers’ Association to teach ‘draughtsman civil’ for Ramesh’s vocational stream in Class 12 at Nadesanar Government Higher Secondary School at Ayakaranpulam in Vedaranyam.

“For the two Dalit boys, despite their apologies, the backlash came in the form of public slap with slippers on the school premises the following morning. The boys were summoned by the teacher, pulled up by their collars, and slapped with slippers outside their classroom.

“A staff member of the school, on condition of anonymity, told The Hindu that the incident took place on Friday morning, outside the class. There were a number of witnesses to it. ‘However, no one has lodged a complaint.’ [...]

“A visibly upset Ramesh has not attended school since the incident. For Kumar, with no father and a mentally unstable mother, there is no recourse. He continues to attend school.”

UNTOUCHABLE BOY HELD IN SLAVERY

Dalit boy rescued from bonded labour (The Hindu)

“A nine-year-old Dalit boy who allegedly suffered two years of physical abuse was rescued from the bondage at a village near Karaikudi on Sunday.

“Acting on specific information given by Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO, officials of the revenue department saved the boy from Indira Nagar in Karaikudi, after they raided a cattle shed at Silukkupatti, where he was made to work for 20 hours a day. [...]

“It has been alleged that Kaaleswaran, a caste Hindu from the same village, had got the thumb impression of the boy’s father, Anand, who repairs old utensils, on a blank paper when he was drunk. Kaaleswaran allegedly used the paper as a promissory note stating that Anand had borrowed a loan of Rs.60,000 from him. When Anand denied having taken a loan, the accused threatened to lodge a police complaint, and took his son into his custody.

“‘I was living in a shed, where nearly 200 goats were accommodated. They served me leftover food thrice a day and never paid any wages,’ the boy said. ‘Kaaleswaran used to abuse me every day,’ he added.

“It is said that several attempts taken by the boy’s parents to rescue him in the last two years proved futile as they too were physically and verbally abused every time they visited him. ‘We were scared that Kaaleswaran might kill our son, if we approached the police,’ said the boy’s mother, Meenambal.”

ROMA “CHILD ABDUCTION” CASES IN GREECE AND IRELAND: MEDIEVAL LIBELS RECRUDESCE IN FALSE REPORTS OF STOLEN CHILDREN SPREAD BY COPS AND THE PRESS–ROMA IN DANGER ALL ACROSS EUROPE

Roma, Feared as Kidnappers, See Their Own Children at Risk
(New York Times)

“For centuries across Europe, children were raised on folk tales with a disturbing message: Wander into the woods and you risk being snatched by Gypsies.

“Such a warning seems like an anachronism from medieval times. But the stereotype of the child-stealing Gypsy was reawakened in recent days when a Roma couple in Greece were jailed on accusations that they had abducted a blond, green-eyed girl called Maria — or ‘the blond angel’ in the Greek news media. This week, two blond, blue-eyed Roma children were taken from their parents in Ireland after suspicions that they had been abducted, too.

“The children in Ireland were quickly returned to their families after DNA testing confirmed that the Roma were their parents. In Greece, the police confirmed on Friday that Maria was the child of a Roma couple from Bulgaria. An investigation continues into whether Maria was sold, adopted or given to the couple as they have claimed.

“Whatever the outcome, the Roma say that it is they who now live in fear — of having their children snatched for no reason other than their cultural identity or skin color. The cases, they say, have helped fan a sometimes violent backlash against the roughly 11 million Roma scattered across Europe. In an era of budget cutbacks and high unemployment, politicians on both the left and the right have singled out the Roma as emblematic of the problems of illegal immigration and have questioned whether they can ever be integrated.[...]

“[A]nti-Roma sentiment appears to be spreading. Serbian news media reported this week that a group of skinheads in Novi Sad, Serbia, tried to abduct a Roma child in front of his house last weekend because his skin was fairer than that of his father, Stefan Nikolic.

“In Italy, the anti-immigrant Northern League responded to news of Maria’s supposed abduction this week by demanding inspections of all Roma communities to check for missing children. Gianluca Buonanno, a member of the Northern League in the Italian lower house of Parliament, said he had submitted a petition to the Interior Ministry demanding identification of camp occupants. [...]

“Even before the cases, rights groups say, violence and intimidation against the Roma were intensifying. Earlier this month, a woman threw acid at a 2-year-old Roma boy and his mother in Naples, according to the European Roma Rights Center. In Hungary, at least seven Roma were killed between 2008 and 2010, and Roma leaders have counted dozens of firebomb attacks in the past.

“In Greece, where the far-right Golden Dawn movement has been fanning anti-immigrant fervor, the head of the Greek Union of Roma, Yiannis Halilopoulos, said the sensational coverage in the Greek news media and the racial profiling that followed the removal of Maria had ‘taken us back 100 years.’ [...]

“In the Czech Republic, ultraright parties and their neo-Nazi supporters this year have organized about 30 anti-Roma marches, where some have chanted, ‘Gypsies to the gas chambers,’ rights groups said.

“In France, where the Roma issue has flared amid a debate over immigration, the far-right National Front has made the Roma a central issue ahead of municipal elections in March. Its leaders have warned that if Romanians and Bulgarians were allowed to travel in the European Union’s passport-free Schengen Area, the country could see a flood of Roma immigrants.

“This month,President François Hollande intervened after a 15-year-old Roma girl, whose family was living illegally in France for five years, was pulled off a bus by the authorities and expelled to Kosovo. After loud protests, Mr. Hollande agreed to allow the girl to return, but only if she left her family behind. [...]

“Roma advocates counter that if there is crime among some Roma, it is the byproduct of severe economic deprivation and social exclusion that allowed a minority of unscrupulous ringleaders to exploit poor people desperately eking out an existence on society’s fringes.”

See also:

An angel kidnapped by Gypsies? In the absence of all the facts, age-old libels are being replayed by Louise Doughty (The Guardian,
October 22, 2013):

“She is, we have been told repeatedly, the girl Greece is calling ‘the blonde angel’. She is certainly blonde – and she is a young child who deserves concern as all children do, particularly those facing poverty or discrimination. Whether or not she is angelic is a matter of stereotype rather than personality. She is angelic in the eyes of the media only in stark contrast to the circumstances in which she was found: in a Roma camp in Greece, with dark-skinned parents who, DNA tests have revealed, cannot be her birth parents. The pair appeared in court on Monday charged with child abduction, but are said by their lawyer to be distraught at the forcible removal of a child they were raising as their daughter.

“Whatever the truth of Maria's origins, one element of this case is not in doubt. Even before charges were brought, it was widely reported as a case of abduction. The pursuit of Gerry and Kate McCann and the mother of Ben Needham for reaction will have cemented that impression in the eyes of many; they have been ‘given hope’, apparently. Maria’s case may even, it seems, have prompted the seizure by police in Dublin today of another child from a Roma community after members of the public raised concerns that the child may not be biologically related to the couple she was living with.

“Informal adoption is commonplace, particularly in societies where children are raised collectively by extended family units, and families of eight or 10 are not unusual. Across the world, children in economically difficult circumstances are left with grandparents, aunts and uncles, or sometimes given away because the birth parents cannot provide for them. This is hardly a practice unique to Roma society, and it is a long way from deliberate abduction for the purposes of ‘child trafficking’, an assumption that the non-Roma world has been happy to make with impunity.

“This media reporting has to be seen within the context of a blood libel that has dogged Roma communities for centuries. The claim that Jewish people killed Christian children to have human blood for matzos at Passover was used to justify antisemitism throughout the middle ages; in the same way, the age-old myth that Romanies are in the habit of kidnapping white children entered popular folklore around the same time, and has persisted to the present day. [...]

“The racist reporting of the Greek case is all the more bitter to those familiar with Roma history. Renowned expert Prof Thomas Acton says, ‘I know of no documented case of Roma/Gypsies/Travellers stealing non-Gypsy children anywhere.’ Far from Romanies abducting white children, the truth has been the other way around. Hundreds of Yenish Roma boys and girls were forcibly taken by the authorities in Switzerland from 1926 to 1972. The children were placed in orphanages or homes for people with learning difficulties and their families denied all contact with them.”

And see:

French schoolchildren march in anger over expulsions
(BBC, Ocotber 17, 2013):

“Thousands of schoolchildren in Paris and other parts of France have been demonstrating in anger over the expulsion of two foreign teenagers.

“Twenty secondary schools in the French capital were disrupted as children joined a march, clenching fists in solidarity with the expelled pupils.

“Some demanded the sacking of Interior Minister Manuel Valls.

“In one case, a Roma schoolgirl was sent to Kosovo and in the other, a student was repatriated to Armenia.

“There has been widespread indignation at the manner in which border police picked up schoolgirl Leonarda Dibrani, whose family had lost its bid for asylum in France after five years in the country.

“Leonarda, 15, was escorted from her school bus by a teacher, in front of other children, in the eastern region of Doubs on 9 October.”

And see further:

French minister Valls defends call for Roma expulsions
(BBC, September 25, 2013):

“French Interior Minister Manuel Valls says he stands by remarks calling for the country’s Roma (Gypsies) to be expelled.

“He said few Roma could ever integrate into French society and ‘the majority’ should be sent ‘back to the borders’.

“But Mr Valls - a dapper 51-year-old who polls suggest is a rising star in Francois Hollande's Socialist administration - said he saw no reason to correct comments that Roma lifestyles were ‘clearly in confrontation’ with French ways of life. [...]

“‘The majority [of Roma] should be delivered back to the borders. We are not here to welcome these people.‘’ [...]

“Mr Valls has encouraged local councils to systematically dismantle illegal Roma slums, and offer the expelled residents free flights back to their countries of origin. [...]

“Mr Valls is himself the Barcelona-born son of Spanish immigrants, Mr Montebourg pointed out on Wednesday.”

And see also:

No Deportations! For Full Citizenship Rights!
France: Down With Racist Anti-Roma Campaign!
(Workers Vanguard, September 24, 2010)

And see on anti-caste:

FRENCH GOVT IS ROUNDING UP AND DEPORTING MEMBERS OF EUROPE’S LARGEST OPPRESSED CASTE (August 18, 2010)

DOMINANT-CASTE MOB OF OVER 60 MEN ATTACKS SEGREGATED UNTOUCHABLE COLONY, CAUSING GRAVE INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE

Mob ‘attacks’ Dalit area, 13 injured (Indian Express (Chennai))

“A mob of over 60 men and women — all from the dominant Maratha caste — allegedly attacked the Dalit basti of Rajwada in Shevge Dang village, Nashik district, on Sunday, causing serious head injuries to 13 men. [...]

“According to the villagers, the attackers came in tractors, carrying sickles, knives, bricks and boulders. They alleged that their houses were damaged and photographs of B R Ambedkar were desecrated.

“According to reports, the fight ensued over a small accident, when a tempo (auto rickshaw) owned by a person belonging to the Maratha caste rammed into a tree on October 15, injuring several persons travelling in it, including a 50-year-old Dalit woman Lata Bharit.”

LOVE ACROSS CASTE AND COMMUNAL LINES IS FORBIDDEN: FIVE RECENT CASES

Girl killed for honour, parents try to cremate her body secretly (Indian Express (Chennai), October 21, 2013):

“Sasikala, a Caste Hindu, had married Dalit Kottaisamy of Ponnaiyapuram secretly in a temple near Sathirakudi on October 11 against the wishes of her parents and escaped from the district. The duo had been in love for two years while studying in a Muthukulathur college. Afraid of Sasikala’s parents, the couple eloped to Dharapuram with the help of Kottaisamy’s friend Peramaiyan. Meanwhile, Karuppaiya, the girl’s father, filed a missing person complaint with Emaneswaram police. When Sasikala’s relatives learnt the duo was in Dharapuram, they went with former panchayat leader Narayanan and forcibly brought her to their village, said Kottaisamy’s kin. Then the police produced them in court and sent her with her parents.

“The police received a message on Saturday night that Sasikala died after allegedly consuming poison and her father Karuppaiya, mother Kanthaayi and relatives were secretly cremating her body in the graveyard. Raising suspicion over the death, some villagers told the police that her parents would have forced Sasikala to consume poison because she married a Dalit.”

Couple’s elopement triggers Dalit-villagers clash; 2 hurt (Indian Express (Chennai), October 15, 2013):

“In yet another case of caste clash triggered by the elopement of an inter-caste couple, two persons were seriously injured at at Venkatachalapuram near Kovilpatti on Sunday.

“Sources said that one Karuppasamy, a Dalit, and Kasturi, caste Hindu girl, had loved each other and owing to their parents and community opposition, they had eloped from the village a month ago.”

17-year-old girl killed for 'honour,' property (Times of India, October 19, 2013):

“Dismembered body of a teenaged girl, who was missing for the past 20 days, was recovered from a well in Dewas district on Friday. The body hacked to pieces, was stuffed into two gunny bags. The bags were tied to stones to prevent them from floating on water. Police suspect it a case of honour killing.

“Five people, including father and a brother of the girl, were detained.

“The gory killing to salvage 'honour' came to light after the police detained three youths from Khajrana, who reportedly confessed to have taken supari of Rs 5 lakh from the girl's brother Irfan Adam, 25, to kill the girl as she was allegedly having an affair with a boy from other religion.”

Thane girl allegedly assaulted, tonsured for marrying out of caste (NDTV, Ovtober 15, 2013):

“In a shocking incident, a 19-year-old tribal girl has alleged that her head was tonsured and she was beaten by her in-laws at a village in Thane for marrying outside her caste. [...]

“The victim mentioned in her complaint that she had got acquainted with Yogesh while working as a packer at a godown in Bhiwandi town of Thane district.

“Despite opposition from his family, the victim and the boy got married in May this year and were living at her parent’s house in Pali village of Dabhade in Bhiwandi taluka.

“On August 30, the couple went to Yogesh’s home in Maide in Bhiwandi.

“On arriving there, they were tied to a tree and assaulted.

“The complaint also mentioned that one of Yogesh’s brothers took their pictures on his mobile phone after they were ‘punished’ and threatened them.”

Inter-caste love leads to dad ending life (Deccan Chronicle,
October 9, 2013):

“About 500 angry Va­nniars blocked the Ch­ennai – Tada road ne­ar Ch­olavaram, ab­o­ut 25 km north of Chennai, on Tuesday night with the body of a Vanniar on learning that his teenaged daughter el­o­p­ed with a Dalit youth, police said.

“They said Ravi of Ja­ga­nnathapuram, about a km from Sh­olavaram, killed himself around 8.30 in the night when he learnt that his 19-year-old daughter elo­p­ed with a Dalit youth be­longing to nearby At­h­ipattu after telling her family that she was going to her college in Chennai. [...]

“He said the agitators were demanding that the police produce the lovers before them. ‘We are talking to th­em. It is nighttime. We are telling them to give us some time to find the two,’ he said.

“Locals said Ravi’s brother’s daughter had eloped with a Dalit youth six months back. The couple was yet to be traced. ‘How can we keep quiet when one girl after another from our families vanishes like this?’ asked a middle-aged protester.”

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF UNTOUCHABLE COMMUNITY OVER DISPLAY OF AMBEDKAR PHOTO

Dalits suffer social boycott in Maharashtra village (The Hindu)

“Suman Tayde, 14-month-old Dipti’s grandmother is growing anxious as the child has gone without milk since Saturday. The village hasn’t run out of supplies, but since October 12, Dalits of Vairagad village in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district have been facing a social boycott. This includes access to the flour mill and other shops in the village.

“On Monday, Suman went to Balaji Kunte, a caste Hindu, and tried to convince him to spare some milk for Dipti. Balaji Kunte’s wife told her, ‘If we give you milk, our caste people would punish us with social boycott.’

“‘We are living on rice. Now they (caste Hindus) are threatening that the road leading to our locality would be blocked’, said Tulsabai Telgote, Suman’s neighbour. ‘Frightened by this, our girls have not stepped out of house since Saturday,’ Tulsabai added.

“On January 26, 2013, caste Hindus in Vairagad refused to allow Dalits to put up B.R. Ambedkar’s photo alongside those of other leaders during the Republic Day ceremony.

“‘We were silent then but on the day of Maha Shivratri in May this year, they uprooted a Panchashil flag (a Buddhist flag) near the Ambedkar statue. They put up a saffron flag in its place’, claims Jagdish Bhandare, an elderly man. Most of the Dalits in Vairagad are landless laborers, and work in farms belonging to caste Hindus. Since the Maha Shivratri incident, labourers from the Dalit locality haven’t been allowed to work in the farms, they claim.”

See other anti-caste posts on the use of social boycott to enforce caste oppression

BRUTALLY ASSAULTED WHILE PERFORMING DEGRADING TRADITIONAL CASTE-BASED ROLE

Dalit man thrashed for not beating drum ‘loudly’ (The Hindu)

“A Dalit man was beaten up allegedly by some persons belonging to an ‘upper caste’ at Kuduragundi village in Hassan taluk for not beating the drum ‘loudly’ during festivities on Monday.

“Kodugayya (52) of Kuduragundi has been admitted to the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital.

“He suffered injuries to his abdomen and limbs, in addition to losing four teeth.

“Kodugayya’s family beat drums during the Ranganathaswamy jatra held to mark Vijayadashami. Kodugayya told the police that some persons belonging to an ‘upper caste’ told him to beat the drum loudly.

“He said that a few minutes later they thrashed him and kicked him, claiming that he did not follow their instruction.”

See also on anti-caste:

SEVERELY THRASHED FOR REFUSING DEGRADING CASTE DUTY
(December 21, 2012)

“NOT GUILTY”: ALL 26 ACCUSED IN 1997 LAXMANPUR-BATHE MASSACRE OF 58 UNTOUCHABLE MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN BY UPPER-CASTE, LANDLORD MILITIA ARE ACQUITTED

After acquittals, fear haunts Dalit hamlet (The Hindu)

“‘They are free and we are trapped,’ says a resident, as many villagers share her fear that they may be targeted again

Sunaina Devi, who lost seven family members in the massacre

“On Wednesday night, Baudh Paswan kept tossing and turning in bed, his appetite and sleep gone.

“‘I feel they will come back again,’ he murmured. As they did on the night of December 1, 1997 and began a killing spree. Armed with firearms and swords, members of the Ranvir Sena, militia of the Bhumihar landlords, slaughtered 58 Dalits, including 27 women and 16 children.

“On Wednesday, the Patna High Court acquitted all the 26 accused, setting aside the lower court’s verdict that awarded the death sentence to 16 and life imprisonment to the other 10.

“‘I do not have the strength to fight anymore. After 58 murders, no one is guilty. The courts are theirs, the government is theirs, the lathi [the baton of power] is theirs. The poor have nothing. This is injustice,’ Paswan said, hobbling around on his walking stick. He lost seven of his family members. Some more died later, of grief.

“The sense of victory felt by the Dalit hamlet after the conviction by the trial court has vanished. Now there lurks a threat. Will the doors be broken open again? Will the houses be invaded?

“Haunted by this fear, Sunaina Devi breaks down. ‘Jiska ghar me itna parivar mara hai vo kaise himmat rakhega? [How will the family that has lost so many members find strength?] So many were killed and nothing happened. Now, they [the upper caste] are threatening us, saying they would barge into our houses and beat us with sticks as nothing has happened to them. Since yesterday, sweets have been distributed in the upper caste quarters and firecrackers have gone off. The High Court let them off and left us trapped. We have lost all hope.’

“House after house shares her unease. ‘The whole country knows who killed those 58 people. Only the courts don’t know,’ said Pramila Devi, who lost three women relatives. ‘Last night, they staged celebrations. They are free now. But we have to think whether we will survive.’

“Laxmanpur Bathe is 100 km from Patna, on the banks of the Sone. As in any other village, there are upper caste quarters of Rajputs and Bhumihars and the Dalit hamlet comprising the lower castes of Mallah, Paswan, Ravidas and Rajvanshi. After the massacre, the hamlet got pucca brick houses from the government. But some of the mud huts with broken doors still stand, testifying to the violence.

“Laxman Rajvanshi is a survivor and eyewitness who testified in court. “Give us justice or drown us,” he said.

“Asked about the High Court’s observation that witnesses were unreliable, he said: ‘How could I not have recognised them? We stay in the same village and I see them about 10 times a day! We worked on their fields. We had no inkling of this attack, otherwise we would have been alert. The Nitish Kumar government is hand in glove with the feudal elements. He slotted us into the Mahadalit category, collected our votes and then cut our throats.’

Another eyewitness, Ram Ugraharajbanshi, said the assailants divided themselves into two groups. One was a killing squad of 35 persons and the other, of 80 men, stood guard. ‘The armed men had their mouths covered with handkerchiefs. But, of course, we were familiar with their voices.’

“The massacre was one in a series of brutal caste killings that marked the 1990s in Bihar.

“In the backdrop of a peasant struggle, the late Brahmeshwar Singh Mukhiya rallied the land-owning Bhumihars under the banner of Ranvir Sena.

“Violent and brutal confrontations between the Sena and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) were the order of the day.”

See also:

Getting away with murder (Frontline, October 30, 2013):

“Bathe is an archetypal village in central Bihar. The upper-caste tola (in this case, a mix of Bhumihars and Rajputs) is visibly affluent with pucca streets and spacious houses. The residents are from the landed class. Agriculture is their main occupation. The other tola in the village is about 100 metres away and is home to Dalits and other backward classes (OBCs). Except for agricultural work, there is absolutely no interaction between the two tolas. Surrounded by agricultural fields on three sides and with the Sone river on the fourth, Bathe presents itself as an idyllic village, far from the noise and pollution of the city. Beneath the surface, however, tensions simmer between the upper castes and the backward castes.

“The Dalits are mostly agricultural workers. Until a few years ago, they were not allowed to sit in a khatiya (cot) even in their own homes and were forced to follow a feudal code of conduct. They could not wear new clothes, smoke cigarettes, ride bicycles or dare to talk with their heads held high. The landlords determined the wages and generally doled out minuscule sums. They seized Gairmazarua land (panchayat land in a village for development activities and Dalit and OBC welfare), illegally, to prevent Dalits and OBCs from using it. Whenever Dalits protested, their women got raped and men got beaten or killed. A landlord who put his labourers under ‘house arrest’ and withheld their wages but refrained from killing them was considered benevolent. The landlords, in effect, had a complete grip over the village economy.

“This was the kind of backdrop that in the late 1970s saw the emergence of naxalite outfits in central Bihar—mainly the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), the Party Unity (PU) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist-Liberation). These organisations took up the issues of wage and dignity of the Dalits and OBCs. Agricultural labourers rallied behind these parties and gathered strength from their ideologies. For the first time, a few parties organised Dalits and OBCs against the age-old and violent feudal structure perpetuated by the upper castes. The MCC and the PU were underground outfits, while CPI (ML-Liberation) contested elections for ‘tactical reasons’. When the massacre took place, Laxmanpur Bathe was a stronghold of the PU, which operated through its front organisation, the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS). Under the MKSS’ leadership, agricultural labourers of Bathe were fighting for a decent minimum wage, a dignified life, and their right to Gairmazarua land. Similar struggles were led by the CPI (ML- Liberation) in Bhojpur and the MCC in Gaya. In 2004, the MCC and the PU merged into the Communist Party of India (Maoist), and at present this outfit operates mostly from Jharkhand. It has lost much of its cadre base in central Bihar.

“In response to the naxalite challenge, many private militias of the landed and dominant castes mushroomed in Bihar through the 1980s. A series of massacres happened in central Bihar, in which these armies specifically targeted Dalit tolas and killed hundreds of people. Many private armies consolidated themselves in the early 1990s and a bigger, well-structured militia emerged. It was called the Ranveer Sena and was led by members of the Bhumihar caste. [...]

“From 1995 to 2000, the Ranveer Sena perpetrated 29 massacres, in which 287 people were killed, according to official records. With time, it expanded its operations beyond Bhojpur to other parts of central Bihar. In many cases, the police allegedly helped the Ranveer Sena to kill communist cadre. The naxalite parties retaliated forcefully in eight instances, but most of these were targeted killings unlike the indiscriminate massacres perpetrated by the Ranveer Sena. The only exception was the 1999 Senari massacre, in which the MCC killed 34 people from the Bhumihar caste. [...]

“The Bathe judgment is the third in a series of acquittals by the Patna High Court. In April 2012, the court set aside a lower court judgment and acquitted all the 23 accused in the Bathani Tola massacre case. Three had been sentenced to death and 20 to life imprisonment by the lower court. In July 2012, 19 of the 20 accused were released by the High Court in the Miyapur massacre case. On March 1, 2013, all the 11 accused were acquitted by the court after they appealed against the lower court decision that sentenced three to death and eight to life imprisonment in the Nagari Bazaar massacre. In two other cases, the Narayanpur and Sendani massacres, the lower court acquitted all the accused in the last two years. In the Senari massacre case, in which the MCC was involved, all the accused were pronounced guilty by the High Court.

“In all the cases against the Ranveer Sena, the High Court found the prosecution witnesses ‘unreliable’ and gave a lot of credence to the argument put forward by the defence lawyer that the first information reports (FIRs) were lodged a few hours after the massacre. It interpreted the ‘delay’ as an indication that it was possibly politically motivated. Critics say that the judgments point to the dual nature of the judiciary: it chose to acquit the accused in all the cases where landlords were implicated and punished the accused in cases where agricultural workers were the accused.”

Parvati Devi, who lost nine members of her family
in the Laxmanpur Bathe massacre.

And see:

Bloodthirsty Justice: Laxmanpur Bathe. Bathani Tola. Mianpur. Nagri Bazar. Haibaspur. Shankar Bigha. by Sumati (Newsyaps (via Sanhati), October 27, 2013)

And see on anti-caste:

FINAL VERDICT IN BATHANI TOLA MASSACRE CASE (April 17, 2012)

and

THE “BUTCHER OF BIHAR”–LEADER OF UPPERCASTE LANDLORDS IN CLASS WAR AGAINST THE LANDLESS, ORGANIZER OF DEATH SQUADS THAT TARGETED HUNDREDS OF IMPOVERISHED, UNTOUCHABLE MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN–DIES IN THE MANNER IN WHICH HE LIVED
(June 2, 2012)

UNDER THREAT, UNTOUCHABLE COMMUNITY FLEES

Fearing violent attacks, Dalits desert village (The Hindu)

“The Dalits of Kariyampatti village near Dindigul, about 60 km from here, deserted their houses on Saturday and took shelter at a hillock near Chengalapatti, (away from their hamlet) fearing violent attacks from caste Hindus, allegedly over a temple festival row.

“Perumal (38), a Dalit resident of Nadupatti Colony, claimed that a caste Hindu barged in to his house late on Friday night and threatened to murder his wife for not disclosing the whereabouts of his son, who was involved in a brawl with Vanniyars, a few months ago.

“‘The men abused my wife and left, but they came later and hurled a petrol bomb on my house,’ alleged Perumal. He went on saying, ‘caste Hindus have been intimidating all Dalit families to leave the village. They have damaged several houses in the past few days. The police and revenue officials haven’t taken action against them (Vanniyars),’ he lamented.

“According to police sources, trouble began on July 16, during a temple festival celebrated by the Dalits. A group of Dalit youth wore T-shirts bearing the image of “Ondi Veeran,” a Dalit icon.

“Objecting to this, the Vanniyar youth picked up a quarrel with the Dalits and coerced them to remove the T-shirts.

“A few days later, four Dalit youths were assaulted by a group of Vanniyars, for wearing the T-shirts. The same day, a case was registered and arrests were made on both sides.”

INTER-CASTE LOVE HAS DEADLY CONSEQUENCES: TWO RECENT CASES

Honour killing: parents confess to daughter’s murder
(Hindustan Times, September 30, 2013):

“In a statement issued on Monday, superintendent of police Sibas Kabiraj said, ‘The victim's parents admitted that they poisoned their daughter and then strangulated her. With the help of close family friends, they tried to cremate her in the morning. Suspecting foul play, the villagers informed the police.’

“According to the police, the victim, who belonged to Gadaria caste (a backward class) was in love with Jaswinder Singh, a mazhabi Sikh (a scheduled caste), but her family was against the inter-caste relationship.

“The couple ran away to Ludhiana in Punjab on September 22, but Manjit’s parents forcibly took her back home the next day.

“On September 29, they killed Manjit for going against the family’s wishes by marrying out of her caste.”

Manjit Singh

Dalit man murdered allegedly by in-laws, honour killing suspected (IBNLive, September 24, 2013):

“In a suspected case of 'honour killing', a Dalit man was murdered allegedly by his in-laws at Mehrama village of Bihar's Nawada district on Tuesday, police said.

“‘The victim identified as Naveen Kumar (25), was hanged with a rope and his stomach was pierced,’ SP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon said. Naveen had married a girl from another Dalit caste two years ago much to the disapproval of her family, the SP said.”

UNTOUCHABLE WOMAN DRAGGED NAKED THROUGH VILLAGE STREETS FOR HER SON’S ALLEGED INTER-CASTE AFFAIR

Their revenge on her body (The Hindu)

“A Dalit woman in a Patna village was stripped and paraded in the streets by dominant caste men to avenge an affront to their pride.

“They were six. She was all alone. They held her arms, her legs and dragged her out of her house in broad daylight. An entire village watched as six men tore off Sarita Devi’s (named changed) clothes, paraded her in the streets, in a shocking spectacle of humiliation very near to Bihar’s capital city.

“Like scores of Dalit women, her body became the site of revenge for the dominant castes in her village, who sought to strip off her dignity to avenge an ostensible affront to their caste pride.

“Sarita Devi, a washer woman, belongs to the lower dhobi caste. The yadav caste dominates her village (named withheld) in Patna district, whereas there are only two dhobi homes. One of the yadav households accused her 15-year-old son of having an affair with a girl in their family. Later, there was a quarrel between the boy and the girl.

“This acted as a trigger and on February 16, at 7 a.m., the girl’s family and relatives, namely Naval Rai, Atma Rai, Parmatma Rai, Manoj Rai and Sanjay Rai, descended upon Sarita’s hut.

“‘I was brushing my teeth in the courtyard, when they came and held me. They were saying “Dhobi jaat ka hoke itna hai” [You have so much nerve despite being a dhobi.] Then they stripped me. They were taking me to their house to further humiliate me. They asked for my husband and son and threatened to kill me. Manoj was carrying a sword and the rest lathis. Everyone watched as they ripped off my sari and blouse and scratched my body,’ recalled Sarita with tears welling up in her eyes.”

UNTOUCHABLE STUDENTS HARASSED FOR COMPLAINING OF CASTE BIGOTRY IN SCHOOL

50 dalit students barred from attaining classes as they opposed unethical practice by school authority (Odisha Diary)

“‘Acting on the directives of the school authority, the cook in our school forced us sit separately from the upper caste students during mid-day meal. Few days back I was assaulted and humiliated by the lady who prepares our mid-day meal and my fault was that I touched the salt jar. It’s very painful for me to go to the school any further,’ said [thirteen-year-old] Bikram.

“‘Sometimes the food is almost thrown at the plates of dalit students from a distance and frequently most of the food given to upper-class students,’ he added. [...]

“This is not the lone story of discrimination at this particular school in the state. According to a study carried out by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS), twenty percent of students left hungry as they served inadequate quantity of food. Another 20 percent said dalit children were not allowed to serve food, whereas other 14 percent alleged separate seating arrangements during mid-day meals. Likewise 13 percent pupil complained that food dropped on their plate from a distance.”

See also on anti-caste:

REPORT: UNTOUCHABLE SCHOOLCHILDREN ALL ACROSS INDIA ROUTINELY HUMILIATED AT LUNCHTIME (December 11, 2012)

CASTE-BASED HONOR KILLING

Brothers kill girl for loving dalit man (Indian Express (Chennai))

“In an incident of honour killing on Friday, two brothers of a caste Hindu family were arrested at Seevalaperi here on charges of murdering their sister who fell in love with a Dalit boy.

“Police sources said Gomathi (17) had gone to work in a mill at Puthukottai area in Thoothukudi district and had fallen in love with Murugan (22) of Thiruvenkadanathapuram in Thoothukudi district, also a worker there. Gomathi’s caste Hindu family opposed their marriage as the boy was a Dalit. However, Gomathi went to Murugan’s house on Thursday, and decided to stay with the boy.

“As she did not return to her house, Gomathi’s brothers Murugan (24) and Sudalaimuthu (20) went to Murugan’s house and brought her back by promising that they would help her marry the boy she chose.

“Believing their words, the girl returned home. On Friday, the brothers reported that the girl had committed suicide. But investigation revealed that the brothers had poisoned and then hanged her. Seevalaperi police arrested the duo.”

See also:

Dishonour killing in Tirunelveli keeps police on tenterhooks (NDTV, September 17, 2013):

“There's a pall of gloom and fear at the home of Murugan, a Dalit science graduate residing in the Pudukottai village in Tuticorin district. A 17-year-old girl from the upper caste Thevar community, who had eloped with him, was found murdered a few days ago in the neighbouring Tirunelveli district.

“The police suspects the family of the girl to be behind the murder and has arrested her two brothers.

“Murugan, however, hides in fear that he may be attacked next.

“At his home, however, no one is willing to speak out. The family exercises abundant restraint.

“‘They have done no harm to us. Why should we blame anyone for this and make it a big issue? My brother should not have fallen in love with an upper caste girl. He should have found a partner in our own Dalit community,’ Murugan's elder brother Ottaikaran says. [...]

“For years, the Dalits have largely depended on their Thevar landlords for their livelihood in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. And they became easy targets when their menfolk married Thevar women. The early nineties saw bloody communal clashes in the region.

“More recently, upper caste women have become victims of the dishonour killings, with at least six in the last two years alone.”

VILLAGE DRINKING WATER DENIED TO UNTOUCHABLES

Dalit woman thrashed for drawing water from tube well in upper caste area (NDTV)

“A Dalit woman was allegedly beaten up by members of upper caste for drawing potable water from a government-dug deep tube well in their area at a village in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, police said on Wednesday.

“The woman was thrashed by upper caste groups in Pikirali village, about 25 kilometres from Kendrapara, on Monday. The upper caste groups said Dalits were not allowed to draw water from their wells.

“The sole tube well in Dalit Sahi area, which served about 10 Dalit families, had been lying defunct since last month. The poor families were forced to use polluted water from a pond nearby.

“Driven by compulsion, a Dalit woman, Kalpana Sethi, 25, decided to fetch water from a tube well in front of the house of an upper caste person, Bhamara Jena.”

See also on anti-caste:

IN GUJARATI VILLAGE, A PUBLIC NOTICE FORMALIZES CASTE-BASED SCHEDULE FOR DISTRIBUTION OF WATER (June 13, 2013)

UNTOUCHABILITY IN NEPAL

Caste-based discrimination still pervades Bajura (Republica (Kathmandu))

“Many villages in Bajura have separate drinking water taps for the Dalit and the non-Dalit communities as the caste-based discriminate continues unabated in this hilly district in far-western Nepal.

“Take, for instance, the remote village of Aamkot in Biramhatola VDC. Of the total 60 households in the village, around 45 families belong to the so-called upper castes.

“There are two sets of water taps in this predominately non-Dalit village–borne out of the notion of ‘untouchability’–not to allow the Dalit residents from using the tap meant for the so-called upper castes.

“So deep-rooted is the Hindu religious orthodoxy in the village that the discrimination is not merely confined to the caste system, and extends to gender as well.

“Next to the drinking water taps set up for the Dalits and the non-Dalits, there is yet another tap for menstruating women in the village. [...]

“A woman from the Dalit community said that though some literate upper caste youths were liberal, most of the elderly remain strictly conservative.

“‘To this day, some old people from the so-called upper caste sprinkle water dipped on gold to sanctify their water tap if they saw any of us using their tap,’ she adds. ‘And, it really depresses us and makes us feel humiliated.’

“According to her, things do not end just by purifying the water tap. The so-called non-Dalit locals make it a point to berate them–using foul language. [...]

“In Piluchaur, a common market for around five Village Development Committees, no one from the Dalit community is allowed to spend a night in any of the local hotels, says Bhuwan B.K, a student.

“‘We are not allowed to enter a hotel, and we are forced to eat outside even if we pay for food,’ he bemoans.”

See also on anti-caste:

NEPAL: DESPITE DROUGHT, CASTE HINDUS AVOID PUBLIC WATER TAP RESERVED FOR UNTOUCHABLES (March 24, 2013)

NO SAFETY, NO RIGHTS FOR UNTOUCHABLE WOMEN IN CAPITALIST INDIA

Low-caste teenager's insistence on justice for gang-rape ordeal leads to blackballing by neighbours and murder of her mother (Daily Mail)

“The victim was 16 when she was snatched from the street as she walked to school and raped by two men in a moving car.

“She reported the attack to the police but three weeks later, on a date etched on to the wall of her home, her mother disappeared.

“Two days later she was found dead in a canal. Doctors said she too was raped before she was murdered.

“Now the teenager’s fight to see the men accused of her rape sent to jail has pitted her and her family against a hostile neighbourhood.

“They are Dalits, India's lowest caste who are derided as 'untouchables'; the suspects, who police say also raped and killed her mother, are upper caste. [...]

“The victim’s widowed father, a day labourer, said neighbours had repeatedly told them to drop the charges.”

HORRIFIC ATTACK ON 14-YEAR-OLD TO ENFORCE CASTE LINES

Dalit boy stabbed for talking to non-dalit girl (Times of India)

“A [14]-year-old school going dalit boy was inflicted with multiple injuries on his face for allegedly speaking to a non-dalit girl, aged 14, in Kumaram village near Madurai. [...]

“Police said the boy, N. Gokulakrishnan, was standing on the outskirts of his native Kumaram village near Alanganallur on the night of August 21 and was taking to his uncle Manimaran and relative Bharathi when the girl’s father, a non-dalit of the same village, attacked him. Mani, who came to the spot pulled out a knife and started stabbing the boy on the face. ‘The boy suffered deep cuts on the face, wrist, shoulder and ear. His uncle and relative Bharathi rescued him and fled the place,’ police said. [...]

“Two days before the attack, Mani had visited the house of the 14-year-old boy and threatened him of dire consequences if he continued speaking to his daughter. Subsequently, the boy’s relatives took the boy to Mani's house and explained that he was not harassing the girl. In spite of that, the boy was attacked, alleged the complaint.”

GENETIC STUDY REVEALS COMMON ANCESTRAL MAKE-UP OF INDIANS OF ALL CASTES AND RECENT ORIGIN OF THE CASTE SYSTEM

Caste barriers not older than 2000 years - Indians mated across ethnic groups till 2nd century: Study (The Telegraph (Calcutta))

“People across India mixed and mated without class, caste, or ethnic barriers for about 2,300 years until strict endogamy emerged across the subcontinent around the 2nd century AD, a new genetic study has suggested.

“The study by scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and the Harvard Medical School has indicated a staggering level of population admixture that they say had not been previously suspected.

“The scientists said that ancient, pervasive and widespread mixture of genes showed up in the genetic makeup of virtually all of India’s present-day populations — upper-castes, lower-castes, and even tribes such as Bhils of Gujarat, the Kallars of Tamil Nadu, and another tribe from Uttar Pradesh, long viewed as genetically isolated.

“The study, based on the analysis of the genetic make-up of 571 persons from 73 well-defined ethno-linguistic groups — 71 from India and two from Pakistan — has found evidence of widespread population mixture between 4,200 and 1,900 years ago.

“‘With the dawn of endogamy, genetic mixing became rare — that’s what we see in present-day Indian genomes,’ Priya Moorjani, a graduate student at the Harvard Medical School and the first author of the study, told The Telegraph. The findings will be published tomorrow in the American Journal of Human Genetics.”

See also:

Genetic Research Suggests Indian Caste System Began 1,900 Years Ago (Slate, August 20, 2013):

“But when did the caste system actually begin? One team of researchers believes the country’s genetic history holds the key. In a recent paper published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers from Harvard, MIT, and the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad assembled what they call the ‘most comprehensive sampling of Indian genetic variation to date,’ using samples collected from 571 individuals belonging to 73 ‘well-defined ethno-linguistic groups.’ The data allowed the authors to trace not just the genetic mixture between these groups but how long ago this mixture occurred.

“Five thousand years ago, the ancestors of modern Indians were comprised primarily of two groups: ancestral North Indians, who related to people of Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Europe, and ancestral South Indians, who are not closely related to groups outside the subcontinent. The mixture between these two groups and their many subcategories happened mostly between 4,200 and 1,900 years ago, according to the study. The authors note that this period is significant as it was a ‘time of profound change in India, characterized by the deurbanization of the Indus civilization, increasing population density in the central and downstream portions of the Gangetic system, shifts in burial practices, and the likely first appearance of Indo-European languages and Vedic religion in the subcontinent.’

“Around 1,900 years ago, the mixture largely stopped, as Indian society moved toward endogamy—the practice of avoiding intermarriage or close relationships between ethnic groups—which reached its most extreme form in the creation of the caste system. As one of the study’s authors told the Times of India, ‘the present-day structure of the caste system came into being only relatively recently in Indian history.’”

And see:

But not cast(e) in stone (DNA (Mumbai), August 31, 2013):

“It seems the first set of modern humans to have migrated to the Indian subcontinent were the Andamanese 65,000 to 75,000 years ago. They then migrated to coastal areas in South India and mixed with Dravidian population groups. Scientists refer to these first inhabitants of India as Ancestral South Indians (ASI). The second wave of migration from Africa took place 40,000 to 45,000 years ago. During migration this group probably split into two — one inhabiting Europe and the other heading towards Middle East and then India.

“This group has been dubbed Ancestral North Indians (ANI). This explains why ASIs don’t show any genetic affinity to groups outside the Indian subcontinent and ANIs show 30 to 70 percent genetic affinity to West Asians, Middle Easterners, Europeans and Caucasians. Most Indian population groups descended from a mixture of these two genetically divergent populations — ASI and ANI. This study had major implications for Indian history because it clearly showed that the origin of genetic diversity found in South Asia is much older than 3,500 years when the Indo-Aryans were supposed to have migrated to India. This means, genetically speaking, there was no Aryan invasion at all.

“Now CCMB scientists have been able to put a date to admixture between ASI and ANI — crucial for a fuller understanding of Indian history. The admixture, according to findings of the study published by Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj and colleagues this month, probably took place 1,900 to 4,200 years ago.

“The most remarkable aspect of the mixture is its pervasiveness. It affected not just traditionally upper-caste groups, but also traditionally lower-caste and isolated tribal groups such as Bhils or Palliyars, all of whom are united in their history of genetic mixture in the past few thousand years. The time-frame implies that India experienced a demographic transformation during this period — from being a region in which major population mixture was common to one in which mixture even between closely related groups became rare as reflected in a shift to endogamy (a key attribute of the caste system).

“The fact that Indians evolved from randomly mixed groups suggests that social classifications like the caste system did not exist in the same way before the mixture. In other words, the present-day structure of the caste system came into being only relatively recently. But once established, the caste system became genetically effective because mixture across groups became very rare. The Vysya community from Andhra Pradesh, which has experienced negligible gene flow from neighbouring groups for 3,000 years, is an illustrative example of this. Many population groups have evolved in genetic isolation during this period.”

AFTERMATH OF MASS ATROCITY IN MIRCHPUR, HARYANA: NEARLY TWO YEARS LATER, 135 FAMILIES–FEARING FOR THEIR SAFETY AND FACING SOCIAL BOYCOTT–ARE SCARED TO RETURN

‘Send us anywhere, but we won’t go back to Mirchpur’ (The Tribune (Chandigarh))

“The Dalit families that fled Hisar’s Mirchpur village after caste violence in 2010 today told a Supreme Court-appointed team they would not return as they feared for their safety. [...]

“‘How can anybody live under constant threat? The situation has not changed much in our village. The Jats are still as inimical to us as they were before. Move out the CRPF deployed in the village and you will see the consequences in two days,’ Ramesh Kumar, a middle-age Dalit man, told the team. About 135 families have been living at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hisar since January 2011.

“Dalit settlements were targeted and torched in Mirchpur village by members of the dominant caste on April 21, 2010, resulting in the death of Tara Chand, 70, and his physically-challenged daughter. The court had convicted 15 persons and acquitted 82 in the case.

“Mincing no words, Gulab Singh, an elderly man, said: ‘Send us to other states or even Pakistan, but we will not go back to Mirchpur. There is no work for us in 20 adjoining villages. Nobody offers us even a glass of “seet” (left over after extracting butter from yogurt, “seet” is usually distributed by cattle rearing farmers free of cost to lower caste).’”

See all anti-caste posts on the Mirchpur atrocity.

HONOR SUICIDE: PARENTS KILL THEMSELVES OVER SHAME OF DAUGHTER’S ENGAGEMENT OUTSIDE HER CASTE

Couple ends lives over ‘honour’ (Deccan Chronicle)

“Twenty-four-year-old Shravanthi, who works in a private firm in Banjara Hills, wanted to marry a man she was in love with. Her parents, Raja Ram Shetty, 45, and Vasantha, 40, residents of Beerappaguda in Jeedimetla, wanted her to consider other proposals but she wanted to marry the man of her choice.

“Raja Ram is an Arya Vysya, a forward caste in Hinduism. The man Shravanthi wanted to marry belonged to Kapu caste, which is also a forward caste, but different. The Shettys refused to agree to the match. When Shravanthi refused to be browbeaten, her orthodox parents took the extreme step.

“On Saturday evening, they locked their house and went to their other house in Rajiv Gruhakalpa in Jagathgirigutta. That is where they hanged themselves. They were found by a visitor next morning who saw their vehicle parked outside and went in to meet them.

“‘We found a suicide note which mentioned they have taken the extreme step due to fears of facing society, in case she marries a man of another caste,’ said Mahender Reddy, SI Jeedimetla.”

HEREDITARY OCCUPATION OF UNTOUCHABLE SEWAGE WORKERS IS NOT JUST DIRTY, IT’S DANGEROUS

No exits from these tunnels of death (The Hindu)

“Sewerage workers, traditionally Valmiki Dalits, employed by civic bodies such as the Water Board, Public Works Department (PWD), and Municipal Corporations, have, for generations, relentlessly toiled, continually risking their health and life to ensure upkeep of the sewerage system. But save for hurt, exploitation and untouchability, they have received little in return. Despite proactive orders of the Gujarat High Court (2006) and Madras High Court (2008), the implementation of the directives remains unrealised, in the wake of frequent deaths.

“The task of inspecting, repairing, unblocking and maintaining sewers exposes workers to the sordid, sewage gunk that is generated in our homes, factories, hotels, hospitals and workplaces each day — an odorous mix of human excrement, food waste, plastic, used sanitary materials, and industrial effluents. This rotting refuse ferments to produce noxious gases, commonly methane, hydrogen sulphide and nitrogen oxide, which routinely threaten the workers’ lives besides causing respiratory, gastric, spinal and skin diseases.

“To guard themselves against exposure to these gases, most workers express a strong preference for protective gear such as full body suits. However, maintaining that the ‘unlettered’ workers fail to appreciate such technology, most Water Board officials approach the issue of workers’ safety with unabashed negligence. Some alcohol, the workers say, is the first buffer against this gaseous attack, for without it, it is unthinkable to survive the nauseating odour. Often what passes off as safety equipment is an oxygen cylinder, the weight of which, not cushioned by a body suit, is too burdensome and inconvenient for workers to work with.

“‘It is not our death that we fear but the fate of our families after our death.’ This is what Delhi’s Jal Board branch workers say — every one of them. This is the workers’ deepest insecurity, compounded by the complete absence or wretched provisioning of social security support.”

INTER-CASTE COUPLE FACES SOCIAL BOYCOTT

Spectre of caste trails yet another couple (The Hindu)

“G. Suresh (31) belongs to the Vanniyar community and his wife S. Sudha (23) is a Dalit. Village elders belonging to the Vanniyar community have ordered a social boycott against them. [...]

“Trouble began around May-end when villagers at Veppamarathur collected Rs. 1,000 from every house to celebrate the Mariamman Temple festival. When they came to know that Suresh was married to a Dalit, they returned the money his family had contributed. [...]

“The village elders then convened a ‘panchayat’, which ordered that none from Suresh’s family should enter the temple. They were also barred them from drawing water from common facilities and other villagers were asked not to have any contact with the couple’s family. [...]

“Only then did the couple get their marriage registered (on June 12). They feared an attack on the scale of the November 7, 2012 mob fury on Natham Colony [in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu].”

See also on anti-caste:

DHARMAPURI MASS ATROCITY: 268 UNTOUCHABLE HOUSEHOLDS LOOTED, SET ABLAZE BY CASTE-HINDU MOB OVER INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE
(November 8, 2012)

COMBINED AND UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT IN CAPITALIST INDIA

A Small Town Near Gurgaon Wrestles With Change by Asgar Qadri (New York Times)

“Twenty years ago, Dharuhera was a quiet village of famers, who mostly worked on the lands of the local feudal lords, the Rao clan. The Raos owned most of the land and controlled the lives of people.

“‘We fought the Raos like our fathers had fought against the British,’ Suresh Chand, a farmer in his 70s, told me. In his youth, Mr. Chand worked as a laborer on the Rao lands. ‘It was pure bondage,’ Mr. Chand said. ‘There was no morning or evening for us. We worked on their lands all the time and got almost nothing in return.’

“The Raos had collaborated with the British and were given thousands of acres of land by the colonial authorities. The fortune is now divided among the various Rao scions. They continue to be the most powerful and the richest family in Dharuhera. The Raos too have made a transition like the town they ruled: they have reinvented themselves as real estate moguls. Daruhera is dominated by buildings carrying the Rao name: Rao Inderpal Shopping Complex, Rao Matadin Shopping Complex, and Dilip Rao Market. Each complex houses 100 to 150 shops. [...]

“The feudal world of Dharuhera began to crumble in the early 1980s after the Haryana government acquired a large swath of agricultural land and designated it as an industrial estate. Companies with large operations, like a paper producer, Sehgal Paper Mills, and a synthetics group, East India Synthetics, came and began employing thousands of locals as workers in their factories. A few years later, in 1985, Hero Honda, India’s largest scooter and motorcycle manufacturer, set up its manufacturing plant in Dharuhera. Thousands of jobs were created. Indian Oil, the state-owned petroleum company, set up a plant.

“A job in a factory brought freedom from centuries of feudal servitude and bonded labor. The great transformation of the feudal town also tore through the hierarchies of the oppressive caste system. Tej Kumar, a Dalit now in his 50s, was one of the workers to get a job at the Hero Honda factory in 1990.

“‘We were forced to wear a piece of shroud,’ Mr. Kumar recalled. ‘Our huts were made to face south to ward off the dirty winds.’

“He earned 2,000 rupees ($33) per month in his factory job — a princely sum for him at the time. A few years later, he was promoted as an electrician. After two decades at the factory, Mr. Kumar, who now makes 22,000 rupees ($367) a month, bought a modern double story house in one of the newly built housing complexes in Dharuhera. Mr. Kumar’s was the first Dalit family to move into the new residential complex. ‘I am hoping to buy a car now,’ he said.

“Over the last decade, however, the enthusiasm that the workers of Dharuhera had about factory jobs has been tempered. Hero Honda, like other manufacturers, has reduced permanent workers and turned to employ more contract workers, who are paid much less. [...]

“Although the Kumars have been able to move out of the confines of the feudal bondage and the persistent caste system, the old heart of Dharuhera continues to be divided into the upper caste Yadav quarter with spacious houses, clean, wide streets, and the derelict lower-caste Dalit quarter.

“‘They still refer to us as Harijans,’ said Makhan Lal, a shopkeeper in the Dalit neighborhood. ‘At least now we live in houses instead of thatched huts.’”

UNDER HEAVY POLICE PROTECTION (INITIALLY REFUSED TO HIM), UNTOUCHABLE MAN DARES TO PARTAKE OF TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE RITE

Knot scared: Rajasthan dalit groom defies threats, rides horse (The Times of India)

“A dalit groom rode a horse for his marriage procession defying threats from upper caste villagers for the first time under tight police security at Neemada village in Rajasthan's Ajmer district on Friday night. Dalits are not allowed to ride a horse especially for marriage processions.

“Ranjeet Singh Berwa's family had sought police help after the villagers had threatened him against riding a horse for his marriage procession. But the cops had told them to follow the village tradition forcing the family to file an application before the Center for Dalit Rights (CDR), which informed the district collector Vabhav Gallaria about it. [...]

“The district administration took the complaint seriously and Gallaria instructed police to ensure the marriage procession's security. [...]

“Even under tight security, many were not sure whether to break the custom. ‘No one, even me, my father and my five sons ever had the courage to go through the roads in the village on a horse,’ said a resident. [...]

“When the procession reached the center of the village, celebrations erupted. ‘It is like dream for us and felt that we too have right to dignity,’ said Peeruji.

“Another resident, Ram Karan Berwa, said thousands of marriages have taken place in the village but no dalit family had ever dared to ‘break this law’.

“As per the tradition, a dalit groom has to step down from the horse within Neemada’s limits and go to bride’s house on foot. ‘Those who have tried breaking this custom were punished severely mostly with heavy penalties,’ said Berwa.”

See also on anti-caste:

UNTOUCHABLES ATTACKED OVER MARRIAGE RITE RESERVED FOR CASTE HINDUS (March 5, 2013) and

UNTOUCHABLE MAN KILLED AFTER UPPER-CASTE VILLAGERS DENY HIS COUSIN THE CEREMONIAL RIGHT TO SIT ON AN ELEPHANT IN HIS WEDDING PROCESSION (April 18, 2013)

CASTE-BASED HONOR KILLINGS: TWO RECENT CASES OF GIRLS KILLED BY THEIR OWN FATHERS

Girl battered to death by father (Indian Express (Chennai),
July 7, 2013):

“In a shocking incident, a young girl was battered to death by her father as she had refused to marry a youth selected by him and insisted on marrying a Dalit youth of the same village. [...]

“According to the police, Konda Mamata (20), a second-year student of government degree college here, had allegedly been in love with a Dalit youth for the past three years and pressing her parents to allow her to marry him.

“But her request was turned down by the parents, particularly her father, Chandraiah, a tailor, and they fixed her marriage to a youth belonging their caste (Merudarji). A function, as part of the wedding preparation, was held at the house on Friday. It was attended by scores of their relatives. After all the guests had left the place, the girl again expressed her strong desire to marry the man of her choice which led to yet another bout of heated argument between the two. In a fit of rage, Chandraiah hit his daughter with an axe, which resulted in the girl’s death on the spot.”

Man kills pregnant daughter for marrying out of caste
(Times of India, June 28, 2013):

“In a shocking incident, a man allegedly strangulated to death his 18-year-old pregnant daughter here today as he was miffed with her for marrying a person outside their caste, police said today.

“Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar (38), a resident of Hanumanwadi locality, strangled his daughter, who was around eight months’ pregnant, with a rope in an autorickshaw near Gangapur road locality. [...]

“The autorickshaw driver tried to prevent the man from attacking his daughter, but in vain.

“While the victim died on the spot, Eknath ran away from there.

“The victim had last year married Deepak Kamble, a resident of Kamgar Nagar locality at Satpur, apparently against the wishes of her father since her husband happened to be from another caste.”

ANTI-ROMA SEGREGATION IN CZECH SCHOOLS

Roma Children Kept Separate, and Unequal (New York Times)

“Roma students in the Czech Republic are still routinely put at a disadvantage because of their placement in either segregated schools or school for children with learning disabilities, despite criticism from rights groups and a 2007 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that called the situation discriminatory.

“A disproportionate number of Roma are placed in what are called ‘practical schools,’ meaning institutions that use a simplified curriculum for children who have mild mental disabilities or who need remedial training. In a parallel problem, others are segregated into Roma-only schools that keep them isolated from the mainstream education system.

“In 2010, about one-third of Roma students in the Czech Republic were in practical schools, according to the Czech Schools Inspectorate. In 2012, that number dropped to 26 percent, though Roma children were still overrepresented, given that the Roma make up less than 3 percent of the population.”

IN URBAN INDIA, A FEW BARBERS FIND SUCCESS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THEIR STIGMATIZED HEREDITARY PROFESSION

Hairdressers Fight Caste Prejudice With Upscale Salons (New York Times)

“Beyond improving the looks of young men, Bangalore’s, and urban India’s, increasingly narcissistic culture has had an unexpected, more profound effect on society. It has freed an entire generation of hairdressers from the burden of their caste tag, giving them dignity, even celebrity. Members of the traditional chaurika caste, who stood among the lower rungs of India’s social order for doing ‘impure’ hair work, are now much sought-after hair professionals.

“‘We are no longer known by the derogatory barber or hajam terms,’ said Ramesh Babu, 42, who has clipped men’s hair for over two decades. Hajam is Urdu for barber. He now owns several salons and runs a luxury car rental service, often arriving in his personal Rolls Royce Ghost to trim clients’ hair. ‘We want to eliminate these disparaging labels entirely.’ [...]

“It’s a stark contrast from when his grandfather practiced the profession, making house calls in a village in Bangalore’s outskirts. His customers — who were men, as women back then kept their hair long — always paid in kind, usually grain and vegetables. [...]

“Many customers will still have a ‘cleansing’ bath straight after a haircut.

“But the past stigma about the profession is definitely fading. Proof is in Mr. Kambaya’s thriving training classes for the younger generation of his caste people, where the emphasis is on polish and demeanor. ‘The sessions will help them prosper in the stylish surroundings of high-end salons and reap the rewards of their inherited skill,’ he said.

“Mr. Kambaya wants his children to carry on his forefathers’ professional legacy. His daughter, a management student, will start assisting him as soon as she is finished with school.”

YOUNG WOMAN BURNT ALIVE BY HER WOULD-BE FATHER-IN-LAW FOR ASKING TO MARRY A YOUNG MAN OF THE SAME CASTE AND VILLAGE

Teenage girl, 19, burned to death in Indian village ‘by four men because she wanted to disobey elders and marry for love’
(Daily Mail)

“A 19-year-old girl has been burnt to death and her mother beaten after pleading with village elders to be allowed to marry a boy from the same village and same caste, Indian police have confirmed.

“Anju Yadav, 19, from Karahkol village, in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh, was set on fire at her home while her mother, Gyanwati Devi, 48, was on the other side of the village pleading with the village council to allow Anju to marry her boyfriend of two-years, Ranjit Yadav, 21.

“But the village council, along with the boy’s father, Jai Hind Yadav, 52, rejected their pleas insisting it was against tradition.

“Instead, the boy’s father rushed over to the family home and set the girl alight, it was claimed.

“Indian society is well known for its complex caste system [...]. However, what is less well known is that it is equally unacceptable for people from the same caste and village to marry. [...]

“Her mother, Gyanwati, said both her daughter and Ranjit loved each other very much and wanted to marry.

“Gyanwati went to Jai Hind’s house on Wednesday evening to discuss the marriage proposal but when he and the family refused she went to village council for help, which is usual in India.

“Gyanwati said: ‘I wanted to see my daughter happy. They loved each other; I had no problem with the marriage. But when I went to Jai Hind with the proposal he told me it’s a sin to marry within the same caste and would not accept the marriage.’

See also:

19-year-old girl burnt alive by lover’s father in UP village (Indian Express, June 14, 2013):

“Anju, who was enveloped in flames, ran to the terrace of her house and jumped down. She suffered fractures in her arms and legs, too. The villagers poured water on her, but by then she had already suffered over 85 per cent burns.”

IN GUJARATI VILLAGE, A PUBLIC NOTICE FORMALIZES CASTE-BASED SCHEDULE FOR DISTRIBUTION OF WATER

In the land of Gandhi and Modi, Dalits still render water 'impure' for others (Daily Bhaskar)

“Just 45 kms from the cosmopolitan hub of Ahmedabad, a village in Bavla Talika district has been found to be using caste as a parameter for distribution of water supply. On the scale, the highest castes of Rajputs and Patels have exclusive access to the well in the morning from 8 to 10 am, with Bharwas and Vaghris using the well from 10 to 12 am. Dalits, or Harijans as they are locally known, are only allowed access after 12 am till 2 pm.

“According to a report, the pipelines carrying water are also arranged so each caste has a different one for their exclusive use. While the two upper castes can and do use each other’s water interchangeably, graphic warnings levying ‘strict penalties’ on Dalits if they are caught using others’ water decorate the surrounding walls. [...]

“Surprisingly [sic], the casteist practise has the backing of village panchayat.

“‘We have put up the notice to streamline water distribution as we have separate pipelines for areas where people of different castes reside,’ Pratapsinh Dodia, the husband of sarpanch Nimisha Dodia was quoted saying by DNA.

“‘And people don’t like when those from other communities use the same well. Villages are different from cities,’ he conceded.

“Throwing light on what upper castes call ‘tradition,’ local NGO Navsarjan Trust workers told DNA that even Dalits have stopped protesting against ‘inferior treatment’ as they have become used to it. Startlingly [sic], coordination officer of the NGO Ramila Parmar was quoted by DNA claiming that such water distribution procedure can be found all over the state.”

UNTOUCHABLES PROTEST BEING DENIED USE OF CREMATION GROUND–GOVT RESPONDS BY PROMISING TO GIVE THEM SEGREGATED ONE OF THEIR OWN

Tension prevails over denial of cremation to dalit woman (The Times of India)

“Police resorted to mild force to disperse warring groups following denial of cremation to a dalit woman by people belonging to upper caste at Gandlavedu village in Atmakurmandal of Nellore district on Tuesday.

“According to Atmakur police, a group of upper caste people objected to the cremation of D Kondamma (80), a dalit woman, who died in the early hours of Tuesday. The dalits wanted to cremate the woman in the vicinity of a crematorium belonging to upper castes.

“This led to protests by dalits. With two groups resorting to physical attacks, tension prevailed in the village. The police used force to disperse them.

“Senior police and revenue officials rushed to the village and convinced the upper castes to allow Kondamma's cremation. The revenue authorities promised to earmark land for an exclusive crematorium for the dalits.”

FORBIDDEN AS AN UNTOUCHABLE TO WALK IN THE STREET WEARING FOOTWEAR, A BOY IS PUBLICLY SHAMED

Dalit boy forced to carry footwear on his head (The Hindu)

“At an age too young to comprehend the ugly face of caste system, a school-going Dalit boy of Vadugapatti in Usilampatti taluk has become a victim of the worst form of ill-treatment.

“On Monday, the 11-year-old boy was allegedly humiliated by a caste Hindu youth who paraded the boy on the streets of the village with a pair of footwear on his head. [...]

“The boy and two of his friends were returning from the Government Kallar Government High School in the village after checking out their annual examination results on Monday when the caste Hindu youth P. Nilamaalai (27) caught hold of them near a huge tree adjacent to the school. ‘He let my friends go because they were not wearing footwear and asked me to stay back,’ the boy told The Hindu.

“Questioning the boy for gathering guts to wear footwear through a locality occupied by caste Hindus and asking him if his mother had not taught him the ‘etiquette’ he had to follow while passing through ‘upper caste areas,’ the youth forced him to carry the footwear on his head and paraded him up to a podium [meant for performing dramas], about 60 metres from the tree.

“His mother took up the issue with Nilamaalai on Wednesday. ‘He justified his act and threatened to kill me if I dared to go to the police.’”

See also:

They dare not wear footwear here (The Hindu, June 9, 2013):

“The humiliation underwent by an 11-year-old Dalit boy, who was reportedly forced by a caste Hindu youth to carry his footwear on head at Vadugapatti in Usilampatti taluk near here, has brought to the fore years of subjugation and maltreatment suffered by Dalits of the village.

“The discrimination began right at his residence. Around 250 Dalit families in the village were segregated from the rest and living in a separate locality called a ‘colony.’

“Over 650 caste Hindu families occupied the remaining parts of the village.

“The two groups of families also had separate temples and priests. ‘We have to cross their (caste Hindus) locality to reach our temple. And we dare not wear footwear. Our ancestors had been following it [not wearing footwear] without protest,’ said P. Azhagu, a Dalit priest.

“L. Azhaguraja, a Dalit driver of the village, said Dalits are prohibited from even riding bicycles and two-wheelers through the caste Hindu locality. ‘We cannot even travel as pillion riders. Any violation of the diktat would provoke the ire of the dominant community,’ he said.

“Concurring with him, R. Palpandi, a casual labourer, said the village ration shop was located in the area occupied by caste Hindus. ‘We cannot even take a two-wheeler there to bring home provisions. We have to carry the provisions on our heads. It is an unwritten rule,’ he rued.”

And see:

Dalit discrimination takes different forms in Vadugapatti
(The Hindu, June 12, 2013):

“Multiple forms of discrimination exist in Vadugapatti village near Usilampatti, where a 12-year-old Dalit boy was made to carry his footwear on his head recently.

“Dalits can neither walk on the streets of caste Hindus with their footwear on nor can they enter common pathways on bicycles. If they violated the rule they had to face the wrath of the dominant caste in the village, the Piramalai Kallars. [...]

“Dalits in the village cannot enter the Santhana Mariamman temple in the village; nor are they allowed to use the village square space. They have no access to common property resources. Even at ration shops, Dalits are abused by caste Hindus if they get close to them, said Vairupandy (25) a Dalit youth.

“Dalits cannot sit in front of caste Hindus at bus shelters; there is no pathway for them to approach the graveyard and even during an emergency they have to use a circuitous route. The law of the land is that all issues pertaining to the villages should be dealt within the caste panchayats (kangaroo courts).

“Maayakkal (60) and other Kallar women in the village square said that they don’t eat food or drink tea in Dalit houses. When asked why they said it has been the tradition for centuries.”

INTER-CASTE LOVE HAS DEADLY CONSEQUENCES: TWO RECENT CASES

Dalit youth killed for marrying caste Hindu (Indian Express (Chennai), June 7, 2013):

“A Dalit youth who fell in love and married a caste Hindu girl was found murdered on a field here on Thursday. Police have arrested the girl’s father and brother in this connection. [...]

“In April this year, the girl eloped with Parthiban, who married her with support of his friends. When the marriage came to the knowledge of Ochammal’s family, they refused to admit the couple in their house. Besides, whenever the girl’s family members came across Parthiban, they used abusive words and threatened him. Sources said, a few days back, the girl’s father went to Parthiban’s shop and threatened him.”

Honour killing: Youth hacked to death by young woman’s kin (Business Standard, June 1, 2013):

“Dhaka, who belonged to pre-dominant Jat community, had married Shabnam Balmiki (22), a Dalit woman, last year in a temple at Hisar.

“However, the family members of Shabnam, who reside in Fatehabad, did not approve of the marriage and also did not allow her to go with her husband.

“On May 30, when Satpal Dhaka went to meet his wife, to invite her for his brother’s marriage, the irate relatives tried to thrash him, but he managed to escape. [...]

“Last evening when Satpal was out for distributing invitation cards of the marriage of his brother Suraj Bhan, the girl’s father Mukesh and her brothers Shubham and Sagar, along with three others, allegedly attacked Satpal, killing him on the spot, police said.”

NEPAL: AFTER PROTESTS SPARKED BY A GIRL’S SUICIDE, GOVT PROMISES, ONCE AGAIN, TO PUT AN END TO CASTE-BASED DOMESTIC SLAVERY–DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH!

Nepal belatedly takes action on slavery following Srijana Chaudhary tragedy (The Guardian)

“When Gangu Chaudhary got a call to come to Kathmandu from his home in western Nepal, all he knew was that his 12-year-old daughter, Srijana, had fallen sick. He arrived at the family house where she had been working to be told that his daughter had doused herself in kerosene and then set herself alight, dying of her injuries shortly afterwards.

“Srijana was a ‘kamlari’, a domestic slave.

“As bonded labourers working off debts, Srijana’s family remains trapped in the quasi-feudal caste system still operating in parts of the country.

“Since the 1950s, young girls from Nepal’s Tharu community have been sold or given away by their families as a way of repaying debts to higher-caste families. Many face years of menial and unpaid domestic labour, violence and abuse. Chaudhary says that he was pressured by his landlord to hand over his daughter in exchange for some land. He never saw her again.

“But now, two months after her body was cremated, Srijana’s death could mark a turning point in Nepal’s battle to end this ancient form of slavery. Last week, the government pledged to end the enslavement of all remaining kamlari girls by the end of the month, help to rehabilitate them once free, and prosecute the families that had enslaved them.

“The government’s decision followed a wave of protests and strikes, in the capital and across southern Nepal, over continued discrimination against kamlaris. The unrest was prompted by the refusal of the police to investigate Srijana’s death, which was ruled suicide. [...]

“Officially, all forms of bonded labour, including the kamlari system, have been banned in Nepal since 2000.

“Yet campaigners believe that thousands of young girls like Srijana are still living as indentured slaves throughout the country.

“‘It is the powerful politicians from the upper castes who typically keep kamlaris, so they have no incentive to abolish the system,’ says Churna Chaudhary, the executive director of Backward Education Society, which has been campaigning for an end to all forms of bonded labour since 1985.”

See also on anti-caste:

NEPAL: IMPOVERISHED LOW-CASTE WOMEN THROWN INTO TRADITIONAL CASTE-BASED SERVITUDE (March 21, 2011)

and

CHILDREN AND CASTE-BASED BONDED LABOR IN NEPAL (February 26, 2011)

TRADITIONAL WORK OF SERVICE CASTES IS BEING REPLACED BY INDUSTRIAL TOOLS AND PRODUCTS

The last of the blacksmiths (The Hindu)

“Blacksmithing is one of the last vestiges of caste-based hereditary occupations. It is practiced by a few families at Nagamalai Pudukottai on the Madurai-Theni highway. They make tools for agriculture and construction purposes.

“Their spades, hoes, picks and trowels attract customers from all over south Tamil Nadu. S. Krishnamoorthy (50) and his wife Chithra (45) belong to the fourth generation of a family of blacksmiths. [...]

“[Chithra’s] ancestors [...] were brought to Nagamalai Pudukottai [...] as the village did not have a blacksmith then. ‘It was part of the system to have various service castes within a village, and we were given land to stay and thus have remained here for the past 100 years,’ says Lakshmi (70), [Chitra’s grandmother].

“Though the blacksmiths traditionally — within the Hindu hierarchy — did not have power over land, they were the ones who made all agricultural tools such as hoes, spades, plough tips and picks, the mainstay of the village economy. [...]

“The advent of tipper lorries and earthmovers has resulted in decrease in demand for hoes. Six men used to carry a hoe each to unload sand from a lorry. Now a single person with a hoe can complete the work, he said.”

INTER-CASTE COUPLE–A BRAHMIN MAN AND A JAT WOMAN–SUFFER ATTEMPTED LYNCHING, CONTINUED THREATS FROM WOMAN’S FAMILY

Couple thrashed for marrying out of caste (Hindustan Times)

“A couple who had married against the wishes of the girl's parents were thrashed by the girl's brother and an uncle on Wednesday, and have been admitted to the local civil hospital. Jasleen Kaur, a Jat and Pankaj Agnihotri, a Brahmin by caste, had been forced to marry in court in August 2012,as the former’s parents did not approve of their relationship due to their different castes. They said they had since been running from one place to another as Jasleen's maternal uncle had threatened to kill them.

“‘On Facebook, he had posted messages threatening to kill my brother and and also insulted my sister,’ said Pankaj.

“He claimed that they had returned to their native village Motian on May 6 as his father was ill. However, on May 8, his in-laws thrashed them up severely.

“‘A mob, including my younger brother, uncle, grandmother, aunt and others arrived at our doorstep. Without a word, my brother and uncle started beating me and my husband,’ said Jasleen.

“‘They were carrying baseball bats, rods and an iron chain. They dragged us out and tore my husband’s clothes. They threatened to drag him naked by tying him to their jeep. However, the villagers intervened and they left the place,’ alleged Jasleen, exhitibiing the bruises on her body. She said her uncle had threatened them to leave the village or face certain death.”

See all anti-caste posts on inter-caste couples

DWELLINGS AND VALUABLES DESTROYED IN MOB ATTACK ON UNTOUCHABLE COLONY IN TAMIL NADU

Dalits lose certificates, valuables in violence unleashed by drunken mob (The Hindu)

“According to the locals, the violence erupted around Thursday noon when a small group of Vanniyar Sangam members were drinking near the social forest on the side of ECR. When they were questioned, a larger group assembled immediately and entered the Kattayantheru area of the Marakkanam Colony through the forest armed with sticks and petrol bombs.

“In the violence that ensued, huts, temples and even a cowshed and haystack were burnt. Other houses were attacked with stones and sticks. On Friday morning, the residents of the colony are trying to assess their loss and pick up the pieces of their lives.

“The residents of the colony were forced to flee into the forest when they saw the mob approaching.

“‘Most of us don’t have anything left except the clothes that we are wearing. Most of the area has been destroyed and even the electric lines were cut in the violence. The attacks took us by surprise, since we did not expect anyone to enter through the forest. Unless they know the area well, they would have not known that the Colony is located just beyond the forest,’ one of the residents said. [...]

“In the Koonimedu Village, another site where there was extensive violence, the Muslims, Vanniars and Dalits joined hands to fight the members of the Vanniar Sangam, the villagers said.”

See also:

Tamil Nadu: Stoking caste flames (Frontline, May 31, 2013):

“On April 25 afternoon, a mob of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) workers, all of them caste Hindu Vanniyars, stormed into Kattayan Theru and threw petrol bombs at Dalits’ huts. [...] It is not surprising that Kattayan Theru was chosen for the attack. Most of its Dalit residents belong to the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK, or the Dalit Panthers), headed by Thol. Thirumavalavan. The animosity between the VCK and the PMK goes back a long way.”

IN MIDST OF DROUGHT, UNTOUCHABLES DENIED USE OF PUBLIC WATER PUMP ON CASTE BASIS

Upper caste in Gujarat village makes Dalits walk for water (Firstpost)

“Even as half of Gujarat is parched, shocking instances of inhuman behaviour have come forth in the Jasdan sub-division of state’s Rajkot district where Dalits are being deprived of water by people from upper caste.

“The Khadwadi village in the sub-division is virtually divided into half as Dalit women and children are made to walk miles in summer for water although there is a hand pump in the village that is used by the upper caste.

“The Dalits are disappointed because they feel ditched as the hand pump came to the village with their effort but now they are not allowed to use it.

“‘The upper caste people do not allow us to use the hand pump. They tell us to use it after they are done with it. The upper caste is full of discrimination against us,’ a villager said.”

See also:

Dalit woman attacked for drawing water from handpump (Times of India, May 13, 2013):

“A dalit woman was injured when a man attacked her with a sharp weapon today for drawing water from a handpump in a village in Bihar’s Madhubani district, police said.

“Mantorami Devi (33) was attacked by Marhu Yadav who was infuriated with her for drawing water from a public handpump at Jhauwa village.

“The woman was injured in both her hands when she tried to fend him off, police said.”

UNTOUCHABLE MAN KILLED AFTER UPPER-CASTE VILLAGERS DENY HIS COUSIN THE CEREMONIAL RIGHT TO SIT ON AN ELEPHANT IN HIS WEDDING PROCESSION

Dalit tied to tree in Haryana, car rams him till he is dead, caste feud alleged (The Indian Express)

“The body of a 20-year-old Dalit youth, who reportedly died after some persons allegedly tied him to a tree and repeatedly rammed a car into him, was found in Devsar village of Haryana’s Bhiwani district on Wednesday. His body was found abandoned in a car on the roadside between Devsar and Kusumbi villages. [...]

“Based on a complaint by Jaimal’s father Rajpal, a case was registered against a few upper caste members living in the same village.

“Rajpal told the police that last year the upper caste members had attacked them and stopped Jaimal’s [cousin's] wedding procession. They also did not allow [Jaimal’s cousin] to sit on a elephant as part of the religious ceremony. Since then, [Jaimal] was being harassed by upper caste youths and hence, they could have killed him, Rajpal alleged in his complaint.”

See also:

Jealousy and caste hatred in Haryana's village of grisly murder (The Indian Express, April 19, 2013):

“‘On December 4, 2011, my brother’s son (Jaimal’s cousin) Veervan was getting married. We had arranged for Veervan to be brought to the mandap on an elephant. The Rajputs in the village took offence. They said we had no right to use an elephant, which was a Rajput symbol of regality. They put a knife to Veervan’s throat and we had to send the elephant back. Praveen’s family was involved. I was the complainant in the police case, and they had been pressuring me to withdraw ever since. Things have been on the boil since then,’ Rajpal said.”

See also on anti-caste: UNTOUCHABLES ATTACKED OVER MARRIAGE RITE RESERVED FOR CASTE HINDUS (March 5, 2013)

200 UNTOUCHABLE FAMILIES FLEE VILLAGE UNDER ASSAULT BY CASTE HINDUS OVER AN INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE

Dalit locality attacked, water supply cut after inter-caste marriage in Haryana (Hindustan Times)

“Over 200 Dalits residing in Pabnawa village, around 25km from Kaithal, were lucky to have lost no lives to a violent mob of the dominant Ror community on Saturday night, but have been left without water supply since.

“Agitated after the recent elopement and marriage of a Dalit man with a woman from the landowning Ror community of the same village, the 400-strong mob barged into the settlement, Ambedkar Nagar, on Saturday night, and not only ransacked houses and shops but also damaged the locality's water tanks and six borewells, besides injuring three persons. Residents are now forced to procure drinking water from adjoining villages.

“As for the couple–Surya Kant (26) and Meena (21)–they have been in a protection home since their April 8 wedding, and the Kaithal police are guarding them on directions of the high court. After the attack, around 50 villagers including Surya Kant's relatives reportedly left the village for an undisclosed location. [...]

“Rajiv, another Dalit resident, insisted that the marriage had ‘indeed broken the bhaichara (brotherhood) of the village’, but noted, ‘The Rors now want to take revenge from the entire Dalit population and hatched a conspiracy to kill us. They had been asking us to hand over Meena to them, even when she married as per her free will and is staying with her husband at a police protection home.’

“Rors are a farming community who claim to be descendants of the Marathas who had fought the Second Battle of Panipat in the region and settled in pockets of Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts now. Their dominance stems from their ownership of significant chunks of land, though they are not otherwise considered high in the caste hierarchy.”

See also on anti-caste: 268 UNTOUCHABLE HOUSEHOLDS LOOTED, SET ABLAZE BY CASTE-HINDU MOB OVER INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE (November 8, 2013)