By Niru Kalyanaraman
<TW: Sexual assault>
Hathras district Uttar Pradesh, India: a 19- year-old Dalit woman is found dead in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, moments after she reported being gang-raped and assaulted. The evidence is clear and apparent, but the officials insist that this is a forged narrative.
The teenager, accompanied by her parents and brother was brought to the Chandpa police station at Hathras district. Video evidence showcases her lying on a cement platform whilst being questioned by a police officer off-camera. She is covered in bruises. Blue-black splotches run from her face and neck until her hands, accompanied by a deep gash on her tongue, justifying the pain ingrained in her speech. She tells the policeman the cause for the attack, "because I wasn't letting him do zabardasti (force/ coercion)" she states. The same sentence is repeated in a second video, only this time it's coupled with the perpetrator's identity, her upper-caste neighbours.
So why does caste matter?
Many who are unfamiliar with the caste system ingrained in Indian society may wonder why it is pivotal for this case. The importance of this case is not restricted to the rape of one woman but also those who have not garnered media attention. According to the BBC, on average, 10 Dalit women are said to be raped daily of which a select few have their stories told.
Additionally, the accused belong to the upper caste Thakur community, which is "incompatible" with the low lying Valmiki community of which the victim belonged to. Hence, it is not a surprise that the families of the accused would deny the existence of any assault as they are aware that they have the backing of corrupted state governments which have political motivations to tag along with the casteist sentiments.
Even the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityantath), one of India's most controversial right-wing politicians, is putatively facing criticism for his government's mishandling of this atrocity. Speculation is rife amongst media outlets that his background as Thakur has created an implicit bias with the way the case is handled and the aftermath on the Hathras district.
It’s more than a political issue:
Lost amid all the political jargon is the desperation of a family in Hathras. As new contradictory evidence is released, many fail to realise that this is not just a case of a failed judicial system, parenting or even governance but the failure of the Indian society as a whole. This tragedy doesn't only serve as an eyecatching sob story for the media but rather one of the numerous wakeup calls to Indians specifically upper-caste men who deem that the rape of Dalit women is justified. This case along with many others such as the recent rape case in Hoshiapur, reaffirms that change is needed and it cannot be surface level, that is… once it is no longer a political issue.
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