JAIPUR/PATNA: A Dalit woman in Bhopar village of Rajasthan’s Dausa district was allegedly raped by two boys, Mahendra and Jeetram, belonging to the Gujjar community in July 2019. When her family members lodged an FIR, the dominant caste was so enraged that they burnt her house, thrashed her family members and even threatened to kill all of them.
Petrified by the repeated threats, the victim and her family fled to Mahua town, about 10 km from their village, where they eke out a living as labourers earning only Rs 500-600 a day. “Our family members were beaten and our house was burnt down. We were threatened that we would be killed if we did not leave the village. The police took money from the accused and did not help us.
The government also did not give us any compensation,” said Mahesh Chand, the victim’s brother-in-law. The Dausa family’s troubles only underline what many Dalit victims of atrocities face. Just like the Hathras rape victim’s family, which has alleged that Thakurs, the community to which the accused belong, are threatening them to leave the village, the travails of many Dalit families who face atrocities do not end with the crime committed against them.
The upper castes hound the Dalits to such an extent that many are forced to flee their village and relocate elsewhere, where they struggle for a living without government support. In the same Dausa district, five men in a car allegedly raped a minor during a wedding ceremony at her neighbourhood in June 2017 in Dhigariya Kapur village. Some of the accused belonged to the upper caste. After an FIR was registered, the victim’s family was threatened and told to settle the case.
But when they did not, the threats increased to such an extent that the minor’s family fled to the neighbouring Bharatpur district. “We had to leave the village as we couldn’t live with the culprits around us. They would stalk us on trial dates. They also forcibly took away our 4 bighas of land. My father now runs a small tea stall,” the victim’s brother said.
Yet another rape victim and her family had to flee Bharatpur and live in Jaipur. The 50-year-old woman still recalls the day in June 1998 when a strongman in her village, Attar Singh Gujjar, found her working alone in her farm and raped her. When she went to file an FIR, the local toughies colluded with the police and stalled the registration of an FIR, she alleged. But her troubles didn’t end there.
In 2002 when she became a ward panch in Bharatpur’s Gothasar Bair tehsil, Attar Singh, who had raped her in 1998, was the sarpanch. When she pointed out some irregularities and complained to the IG Police of Bharatpur against Attar Singh, he and his goons beat her husband so severely that he lost both his legs.
In 2014, families left Gaya after murder of Dalit youth
The six culprits were sent to a seven-year jail term. But when they were released after three months, they began threatening her. The police failed to provide any protection and eventually they were forced to flee the village. These kinds of examples are not restricted to Rajasthan alone. In Bihar, too, Dalits have had to flee in fear. In 2014, a dozen lower caste families had to leave Bihar’s Gaya district following the murder of a Dalit youth. Arjun Manjhi. He was killed allegedly after he filed his nomination papers to contest the panchayat elections.
A non-governmental organisation in Jaipur, the Centre for Dalit Human Rights, has submitted a list of 17 documented cases to the Rajasthan High Court in which Dalit families had to flee their homes following threats from powerful upper castes. “The governmental system has not changed and there is no political will to tackle such atrocities. As a result, the administration remains a mute spectator as powerful castes continue to oppress Dalits and other weaker sections,” said Satish Kumar, the centre’s director.
Take over Hathras probe, Centre asks CBI
The Centre has issued a notification for the CBI to take over the probe into the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Saturday. The notification has been marked to a suitable branch of the premier agency, and probe teams will be dispatched to the crime scene along with forensic experts immediately after the registration of an FIR, they said. The Dalit woman had died of grievous injuries at a Delhi hospital on September 29, a fortnight after she was allegedly raped at her village by four upper-caste men.
MHA letter on crimes against women
The Centre on Saturday reminded the states and Union Territories of the existing laws for “mandatory action by police in cases of crimes against women.” In an advisory, the Ministry of Home Affairs asked them to ensure strict compliance of laws pertaining to crimes against women and pointed out three
sections of the CrPC that deal with “compulsory registration of FIR,” completion of investigation (in relation to rape) within 60 days and a mandatory medical examination with the individual’s consent within 24 hours of receipt of information of such a crime.