THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the Hathras gang rape has made the people of the country sit up and take cognisance of caste-based violence, sexual atrocities against lower-caste women continue to persist. Though the Hathras incident underscores a skewed power dynamic between the upper caste violators and a Dalit victim, in Kerala, according to officials in the SC-ST Development Department, only sporadic cases have been reported wherein a lower caste woman has been abused by the forward caste men.
“Vigilance is robust in Kerala and intervention happens from the highest level. Caste divide is not very evident here. The accused in most of the rape cases is a family member or someone belonging to the same community,” says Dr P Pugazhendi, director, ST Development Department. Activists, however, contend that caste prejudice in the state rears its head in more subtle and indirect ways.
“Caste-based sexual violence is unique and different in the sense that upper caste perpetrators, by committing the crime, are sending a jolt of fear within the whole community of the victim. It is an implicit warning against moving up the social ladder. There is also an inference that upper castes have the power and authority over lower caste women,” says Aleena, a young Dalit activist.
As per the data released by the NCRB, Kerala reported a steady decrease in atrocities against scheduled castes over the last three years. While there were 130 cases of assault against Scheduled Cast women (not rape as such) in 2019, sexual harassment and rape cases stood at 14 and 140, respectively. However, a concerning figure in the report shows that 81 of the 140 women raped were minors.
Aleena points to the aftermath of the murder of 29-year-old Jisha in 2016 and the alleged rape of two minor girls in Walayar. “The way the investigation was carried out in both cases highlights police complacency when it comes to lower caste victims.”
Shaji P K of the Cherama Sambava Development Society concurs. “There was an incident in Kollam a month ago where a ST woman was harassed by local youth political leaders. The police agreed to file an FIR only after we intervened. We come across around 30 SC/ST incidents every month,” says Shaji.