Fact Finding Report: Gang Rape of Dalit Girl by Dominant Caste Youth and Suicide of Girl's Father (Dabra Village, Hisar, Haryana)

That the Hindus most often succeed in pulling down Untouchables is largely due to many causes. The Hindu has the Police and the Magistracy on his side. In a quarrel between the Untouchables and the Hindus the Untouchables will never get protection from the Police or justice from the Magistrate. The Police and the Magistracy are Hindus, and they love their class more than their duty. But the chief weapon in the armoury of the Hindus is economic power they possess over the poor Untouchables living in the village.

—Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1943.

On 1st October 2012, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) facilitated a fact-finding visit to Dabra Village of Hisar District in Haryana where a Dalit man committed suicide after his minor girl was gang raped by the dominant caste youths.

Read more...

V. Ratnamala

Abstract: The present paper aims to study the representation of biological and symbolical killing of Dalits with reference to Paramakudi Firing in the Print media. Space allotted for Dalits in print media will be analyzed. Six Dalits were shot dead at the Police firing on Sep 11, 2011 in Paramakudi. The Dalits were assembled to pay homage to Immanuel Sekaran, a Dalit leader on his death anniversary which turned violent following the arrest of their leader John Pandian. Content analysis will be the primary research method for this study. To study the inclusion and exclusion of Dalits in Print media, both the English and Tamil dailies will be selected including one week samples from September 11-17, 2011 of Dinamalar, Dina Thanthi, Dinamani, Dinakaran, The Hindu, The Times of India and The New Indian Express (Madurai editions) will be used for the content analysis. All the articles, editorials, photographs, letters to the editor regarding the Paramakudi incident will be the unit of analysis. The variables of the study will be the sources in the article, the news language, the frequency of news occurrence and the themes.

Read more...

Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims - Part 5: The Origin and Spread of Islam in India

Continued from here.

Masood Alam Falahi

(Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand for NewAgeIslam.com)

[Part 5 of Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India')]

~

At a time when in India, as in many other parts of the world, social hierarchy, inequality and oppression were at their peak, with a large section of humanity, such as the Indian Shudras, being treated as worse than animals in the name of religion, the Prophet Muhammad began his mission in Arabia. The core of his message was the oneness of God. 'Say: "He is Allah, [the] One', the Quran exhorts the Prophet to announce to the world. Another central aspect of the divine message the Prophet was commissioned to preach was the oneness and ontological equality of all human beings. Thus, the Quran declares, 'O mankind! We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other [not that you may despise each other]. Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is [he who is] the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted [with all things]' (49: 13). The Prophet very explicitly announced, 'An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor has a non-Arab any superiority over an Arab. Nor has a black man any superiority over a white man or a white man over a black man except by the criterion of God consciousness (taqwa). All of you are from Adam, and Adam is from dust.' This message of social equality is a central pillar of the Islamic dawah or missionary call. It was, undoubtedly, one of the major factors for the powerful attraction that Islam exercised and for its rapid spread, in a matter of just a few years, across the Arabian peninsula and beyond.

Read more...

Laxmipeta Dalit Struggle Solidarity Committee, Andhra Pradesh

Plot No:1, Bal Reddy Nagar, Tolichowki, Hyderabad-500008 Ph No: 040-23562525,

Memorandum to Government of India, New Delhi,  by the victims of Laxmipeta Carnage

Honoured Sir,

About forty families, belonging to scheduled castes of Laxmipeta village, Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh, are cultivating 60 acres of Government land for the last 12 years. The Toorpu Kapus, an upper caste, though listed as backward classes, of the same village are cultivating the remaining 190 acres of the 250 acres, which remained as surplus of the acquired land for Madduvalasa Project. Since, the land is of no use to the project, the villagers belonging to the two castes started cultivating the same, to the knowledge of the Government.

Read more...

Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims - Part 4: Early Anti-Aryan Movements in India

Continued from here.

Masood Alam Falahi

(Translated From Urdu by Yoginder Sikand, for NewAgeIslam.com)

[Part 4 of Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India')]

~

It is a law of nature that when oppression reaches its zenith, people begin to rise up in revolt. Oppressed people raise their voice and protest, refusing to accept their conditions. Yet, there is no guarantee that their revolutionary stirrings will necessarily succeed. This is precisely what happened in the case of numerous revolutionary movements that emerged against Brahminism in the early period of Indian history. The Shudras and a large section of the Vaishyas were, from the very beginning, victims of the oppression of the Brahmins and, therefore, harboured deep resentment against them. The Kshatriyas had entered into an alliance with the Brahmins, patronising the latter in return for the religious sanction they received from them for their rule. Yet, a large section of the Kshatriyas became increasingly resentful of Brahminical hegemony and despotism. This was reflected, for instance, in the emergence of powerful anti-Brahminical movements led by Mahavir and Gautam Buddha, both of them scions of ruling Kshatriya clans.

Read more...

Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims - Part 3: The Impact of the Aryan Invasion of India

Continued from here.

Masood Alam Falahi

(Translated From Urdu by Yoginder Sikand for NewAgeIslam.com)

(Part 3 of Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India'))

~

[Translator's Note: This is a translation of Dr. Faridi's Introduction to Masood Alam Falahi's Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman ('Casteism Among Muslims in India'), Ideal Foundation, Mumbai, 2009, pp. 32-35. For the sake of brevity, I have deleted some lines that I did not find directly relevant. I have sought to present the spirit of the text and, hence, have not made a literal translation throughout -Yoginder Sikand, NewAgeIslan.com]

 Definition of Caste

According to sociologists, caste refers to a social system characterised by hierarchically-ordered divisions based on birth. In such a system, there is a strict limit to one's choice of occupations, which is, theoretically, inherited over the generations. There are also strict rules that govern and restrict commensality, marriage and other forms of social intercourse between the different castes. At the same time, each caste is interdependent on the other castes for various services. A caste-based society is contrasted with a class-based one, in which, at least in theory, people's status depends on achievement, rather than birth.

Read more...

(Update on the situation on 22nd July, 2012)

Geeta Charusivam

Jacqueline is better now. The expenses at the private hospital were quite steep, so her family, friends and colleagues got her discharged on Saturday morning viz. 21.07.2012. They felt that CSI Hospital (their employer) should admit and treat her. So they brought her to CSI hospital on Saturday. But the hospital refused to admit her. Jacqueline's friends and colleagues tried to reason with the duty doctor for about an hour. But it was futile. The duty doctor kept saying that the hospital director had refused permission and he could not do anything. As some of the doctors are supporting the director, many felt that admitting Jacqueline forcibly could prove to be risky for her. So they finally decided to take her back home. Many of the nurses have pledged full support and said they would nurse her back to health at home itself. I met her on Sunday morning. She was able to sit up and talk for a bit and given a little solid food on that day. However, she is very weak right now. The doctors have said that it would take about 8-10 days for the toxins to leave her system completely.

Read more...