DNA Edit: Anguish of Dalits - The dangers of Rajasthan’s violent caste dynamics

The caste conflict in a village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district doesn’t augur well for the state. Tensions were already simmering over the arrest of a journalist belonging to the dominant Rajpurohit community. And now reports of 70 Dalit families facing ostracisation have the potential to trigger a conflagration that will reflect poorly on the Vasundhara Raje government.

Barring Dalits from using water from a public tank, and preventing their children from attending school are serious offences that attract punishment under the provisions of SC/ST Act. The two sides have their respective version of events and only a thorough, impartial probe can reveal the facts of the conflict.

Caste factors cannot override a person’s fundamental rights and any form of discrimination is strictly prohibited by the Constitution. If the allegations against the Rajpurohit families turn out to be true, they face the prospect of a prison term. Under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, arrests do not require an approval. The police have already arrested 16 people as the probe continues.

According to NCRB’s 2016 data, Rajasthan with 5134 cases of crimes against Dalits, is ranked third, superseded by UP and Bihar. This is ample indication that caste lines are deeply entrenched in the state and clashes occur frequently.

In Rajasthan, elections are fought on the basis of caste and community lines. All the major political parties try to master the complex caste arithmetic to ensure victory at the hustings. In April, the state was on the boil as both Dalits and upper castes indulged in some muscle flexing.

Back then, after widespread Dalit protests in the state, other castes too brought out processions and tried to muscle their way into Dalit-dominated areas. This cycle of violence was triggered by the Supreme Court order of diluting certain provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, in a bid to protect honest public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

Over the past four years, there has been a spike in violence against Dalits. What is also surprising is the low rate of conviction in the SC/ST Act. Consider this: It is estimated that a crime is committed against a Dalit every 18 minutes. Hate crimes against Dalits involve murders, rape, abduction and other forms of physical violence.

Social discrimination such as untouchability is very much a reality in India even though the Government of India passed the Untouchability Act in 1955 to eliminate any form of caste-based discrimination. A millennia-old system is so ingrained in people’s psyche that after decades of exposure to education and technology, many people still can’t shed their old ways of thinking.

Caste is one of the major problems in India because it’s founded, at least in the way it has been practised over the past many centuries, on the bedrock of inequality. The Dalit families in Rajasthan are routinely exposed to horrific treatment only because they were born in a supposedly “lower” caste. Their place in life, including their occupation, was decided at the time of their birth.