Report of Social Boycott of Dalit Women Sarpanch - PD

A Dalit Mukti Morcha Investigation Report
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Fact-Finding Investigation Report social boycott and discrimination against Dalit Woman Sarpanch in Karauvadih Panchayat
July 2011
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Dalit Mukti Morcha, Chhattisgarh
"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
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Social Boycott - A Crude form of Caste Discrimination

Fact-Finding Investigation Report social boycott and discrimination against Dalit Woman Sarpanch in Karauvadih Panchayat
1. The Prologue 1.1 Based on the information from members of Dalit Mukti Morcha as well as the news appeared in some newspapers on 28th June, regarding the social boycott of a woman village, Dalit Mukti Morcha constituted a fact finding team to investigate into the entire matter. The team constituted of Mr. Vibhishan Patre General Secretary DMM Ms. Sandhya Bodhlekar Executive Convenor DMM Ms. Bundkunwar Banjare Convener, DWRU, DMM Mr. Pitambar Nirala Member, EC, DMM Mr. Dhananjay Jangde Organiser, DMM Mr. Santosh Ghitore Organiser, DMM Mr. Goldy M. George Founder, DMM The 7-member investigation team visited the village on 2nd July to investigate the whole incident. While the facts unfolded one after another, it unveiled some shocking information. Here is a concise of the different dimensions of the findings.
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2. Overview of Karauvadih 2.1 Karauvadih village comes under Jaijaipur administrative block of Janjgir-Champa district. 2.2 Karauvadih village is at a distance of 10 km approximately from the block headquarter at Jaijaipur while Jaijaipur itself is at a distance of 75 km approximately from district headquarter at Janjgir. The nearest police station is at Jaijaipur. 2.3 Total population of the village is nearly 1300. Out of these nearly 336 are Dalits, 322 are Adivasis, Photo 1: DMM team in a discussion with the victims 642 are OBCs. Among the 2
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OBCs the village consists of Chandra1, Yadav2 and Painka3. The major Dalit community within this village is Satnami4. Other than this there is a small section of Gandas5 in the village. However Satnamis are the worst hit of untouchability, social exclusion and boycott in Karauvadih. Since they do not consider themselves as Hindus, their habitation (colony) in the village is commonly known as Satnami para6. In Karauvadih as per last voters list there are nearly 180 Dalit voters, while the non-Dalit voters are nearly 600 including Adivasis. Here most of the Dalits are landless or with small landholding. Some of them even do not have independent homestead land in the village main basti. Hence they had constructed houses on their own farm land. During the last Panchayat elections the post of Sarpanch was reserved for Dalit woman by the Ms. Kavita Manhar got elected. Since then she has been obstructed from functioning properly and in all forms. The present Upa-Sarpanch who hails from the same Dalit community is the main organ through which the upper caste operates all their agendas in the village.
3. Facts of the incident 3.1 Apart from the legally elected Panchayat, the village has its own Gudi7. The Gudi meeting under the covert and overt leadership of the Gautia8 decides most of aspects in Karauvadih village.
One of the OBC groups as per the caste listing, however it is also one of the landed classes who owe large chunk of land in rural areas of the state. 2 Yadav has been the cattle rearing caste in classical caste system. In many states they have largely become landed too however in Chhattisgarh they still follow the old traditional of cattle rearing at large. 3 Painka or Manikpuri has been one of the communities listed within the OBC category; however they had been subject to severe caste oppression. They are still the traditional village watchmen as well as weavers in many of the villages along with other Dalit groups. Even today no upper caste groups have any level of social interaction with them. Most of them follow the path of Kabir and hence they are popularly known as Kabhira too. 4 Satnami is one of the Scheduled Caste (Dalit communities) within Chhattisgarh. They are widely spread across the state. Though Satnami constitute the largest social group among Dalits approximately 1800000 in the state, they are still discriminated within the State. Socially they still reel under the sinews of caste system. In economic terms they are marginalised at large, with very small land holding or landless. Politically they are exploited and used as vote banks. Religiously and culturally they do not follow Hindu religion they follow the Satnam panth after the great social revolutionary Guru Guru Ghasidas in the 18th century. 5 Ganda is the second largest Dalit group in the entire state. They mostly inhabit the Mahanadi valley at large and the largest group of Gandas live in Odisha, followed by Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. They are much dependent on traditional occupation of being village watchmen, rural musicians and weavers in some areas. Their economic condition is much lower than that of other Dalit communities in the village. Their social space is much negligible. Politically they have been traditionally used only as vote banks with almost zero space in political circuits. 6 Para is a word commonly used to denote a particular locality. 7 It is a form of village council which is not legally recognized. It is also part of the traditional panchayat which is complete domain of the upper caste and rich class within the village. In Karauvadih village there existed a system of traditional landholding as part of the Zamindari system which was dominated by a Chandra gautia. 8 Gautia is one of the positions in the ladder of the Zamindari system. According to it, the Gautia has been allocated a cluster of villages who was supposed to collect revenue from the ryots and give to his higher authority who is essentially the Malgujar. In lieu of this service the Gautia was granted a huge area of land for cultivation purpose.
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In a similar way the after the Panchayat elections too there were similar meetings to decide the functioning of the newly elected panchayat. In many of these meetings majority of Satnamis are not invited. Only a handful bunch whom the upper caste section feels to be comfortable and succumbs to the whims and fancies are welcomed into it.
ALWAYS THEY SABOTAGED THE PANCHAYAT ACTIVITIES KAVITA MAHOHAR The current phase of problems began when last year in April 2010 the CC road work was being constructed and the son of the Upsarpanch demanded 50000/- as token bride for no reason. The Upsarpanch listens to the Gautia and follows his instructions. It was also perhaps under his instruction that the Upsarpanchs son Vikram demanded for money. Followed by this a Gudi meeting was called during which it was decided that anyone who dares to go for the work under the MNREGA scheme would have to pay a penalty of Rs. 5000/- and he or she would also be excommunicated. Feared by this the people stopped coming for work which also meant that the government work was being obstructed as per the plans. All these were done at the whims of the Gautia without informing the Sarpanch. People from Moolidih village which also comes within the same Panchayat supported and worked for the completion of the tank deepening as part of the MNREGA work. Then they raised the question of quality of the construction and beat my brother-in-law. They lodged a complained with Photo 2 Kavita Manhar speaking to the DMM-FFT the higher officials on the quality and we filed a complained against the beating of my brother-in-law. Later in the police station the officials called both the parties and made a compromise. The Engineer checked the road and cleared all obstructions. On 9th June 2011 another Gudi meeting was called. This was part of establishing their authority in the village. Since I was neither invited nor informed, I didnt attend the meeting. On basis that I didnt attend the meeting, they decided to excommunicate me and my family as well as instructed other villagers not to attend or go for any of the Panchayat work like the work under MNREGA. Actually the root cause is something different. There was a self-help group viz. Laxmi Mahila Swasahayata Samuh run by the wife of the Gautia Niladhar Singh Chandra. She was the President and her son Bhim used to managed it. This SHG was given the responsibility to run PDS in the village. There was huge irregularity in the distribution of the food grain and kerosene through the PDS as it was only distributed during two days in a month as well as in lesser quantity. The villagers complained against it with the SDM on which there was an enquiry on PDS in the village. The SHG was found at fault and all rights under PDS scheme was ripped off. This was in July 2010. Since then it has been managed by the Gram Panchayat directly. Gaudia and his wife were raged with it and since then they had been looking out for opportunities to set their scores against us.
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On June 6, 2011 the Sarpanch Kavita Manhar complained in the Jaijaipur police station that she was boycotted by the village and therefore the villagers wont cooperate with her in the Panchayat activities in the village. The detailed complaint dated June 11, 2011 says that one Pardeshi Satnami informed the Sarpanch that he heard the Kotwar9 announcing in the village that the Sarpanch is boycotted from the village and none should dare to support her or the work of the Panchayat. In case anyone is found indulging with the Sarpanch, they would be penalised by Rs. 5000/- the complaint quoted. The police went to the village on the complaint of the Sarpanch and found that there was tension between the two sides. They called both the sides to the police station and advised them. The police claim that both the sides had come to an agreement not to create any further problem. After that the police went to the village on June 16, 2011 to review the situation. The situation didnt change even after the efforts by the police personnel and finally on 27th June the Sarpanch and her husband reached the Collectorate seeking redressal to the continuation of excommunication and dysfunction of the Panchayat activity.
4. History of Social Boycott and Caste Discrimination 4.1 Social boycott and excommunication has become the fashion and role model in the village for some years and hence it is not the first incident in the village. 4.2 People in the village informed the fact finding team that traditionally this village had the Gautia rule which means that the land was also predominantly under Zamindari system. Even today the present Gautia holds nearly 100 acres of land. This also indicates the fact that Satnamis in this village had been the landless labourer. 4.3 It is perhaps the continuation of the caste system that overrules the village that the Dalits are neither supposed to hold land or have proper houses of their own. 4.4 Last year Shivprasad Shive and Panuram Satmani were the first ones to be face socially boycott. While Shivprasad Shive was the Panchayat Karmi, Panuram was the MNREGA assistant in the village. Both of them were threatened to be thrown out of their position. 4.5 Under severe pressure each one of them paid Rs. 25000/- each. At that time none of the other villagers came forward in support of either of them. First under severe pressure Shivprasad Shive paid the demanded amount of Rs. 25000/- to get out of the trouble of not loosing his job as well as to protect his house. However Panuram Satnami was kept under two different level of bargaining. First they asked him to pay a penalty of Rs. 10000/- to prevent his house from being broken which he paid. Later he was told that he needs to pay another Rs. 15000/- to save his position and job in the panchayat and once again he paid the same.
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Kotwar is generally the village messenger. Traditionally this work is being done by people from the untouchable groups. Here in this village the Kotwar hails from Painka community.
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I WAS THREATENED TO BE THROWN OFF MY JOB PANURAM SATNAMI In this series of boycotts, I was the first one in the village to be socially boycott along with Shivkumar Shive. There was no reason for this. The only reason was that we build houses and they called it to be encroached land. Since he was the Panchayat Karmi10 and I was the MNREGA assistant, we were threatened that we would be ripped off our jobs. They demanded Rs. 25000/- from each one of us otherwise they would break the houses as well as excommunicate. Since there was so much pressure to save our little jobs we had to succumb. Under the same pretext a few more people were notified whose houses were to be broken saying that they built it on encroached land. They are Parasram Manhar, Ghurva Tandon, Devlal Manhar and Dhwaja Kumar Siddar. All these were done at the behest of Leeladhar Chandra and Rajkumar Sahu propelled through the Gudi meeting.
Photo 3 Panuram Satnami speaking to the DMM-FFT
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Panuram told the team that he is yet to pay back the money that he arranged on interest from a local moneylender. Another person who was victimized by the Gudi meeting was Ghuruva Tandan. Last year he was also restricted from all sorts of social and economic interactions at the village level and was asked to deposit 5000/- as bond to start a village level hearing on his matter. After being in the same hose for nearly 20 years, he was told that it was standing on encroached land. Ghuruva told the team that it is the same house in which his father lived and died. His wife said that in the village Satnamis are the least respected by other caste groups. Even the boycott of people in the village is very selective. Some individuals from Satnami community are also party to such processes of boycott. They go as per the dictums of the caste lords. Hence it is also a matter of not allowing people who do not succumb to the pressure tactics of the dominant ones in the village. Ghurva said that since he wasnt able to arrange the amount of Rs. 5000/-, he is still not involved in the village in several aspects. However he also feels that it wont be easy for him to take loan from a middleman and get bonded for his entire life as he himself is a landless labourer.
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Panchayat Karmi is the Secretary of the Panchayat who assists the Sarpanch and other elected officials in terms of managing the panchayat affairs. He is also the official person who maintains all records of the Panchayat.
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AFTER 20 YEARS THEY TELL US THAT OUR HOUSE IS ON ENCROACHED LAND GHURVA TANDON I was also boycotted last year. When enquired for the reason there wasnt any specific response, but told me that I should pay a bond of Rs. 5000/- as bond for a discussion on the same. We have been living in the same house for nearly 15-20 years which was constructed by my father and now they want to crush the house and we should evacuate the place as they say that its on encroached land. In the village we are not respected much. Even the case of boycott is also very selective. Some individuals from our own caste are also party to this sort of excommunication. Even they are engaged as dalal11 in making people sell off their land to industrial houses. I didnt pay it and I am still not involved in any of the activities of the village.
Photo 4 Ghurva Tandon
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Parasram Manhar was another of the victims who had to face a similar situation in the village last year. He was boycotted by the village along with Panuram Satnami, Shivprasad Shive and Ghurva Tandon. His wife told the team that it was done all due to caste feeling. They feel this since all victims of excommunication had been mostly Satnamis or people who are relatively subdued and poor. Both Parasram and his wife work more than half the time in a year as migrant labourer in far away places like Delhi, Jammu Kashmir and other parts of North India. While they go to these places it also affects the education of their children. Both the children do not go to school. Whatever little money they saved was used for the making a small house. The house is only half build and it needs further monetary investment to complete it. They told the team that only if they go for another decade as migrant workers, they could complete the construction of the house. The house was being constructed just next to the 50 cent of cultivable land of Parasram. Out of the 3 cents what they claim to have been encroached, half belong to him, which means hat its hardly 1.5 cent of encroached land. While he was informed of his excommunication, there were different talks in the village; that his house will be broken, that he hasnt followed any of the Gudi instructions, that he needs to be penalised heavily. He tried to find out the ways to get back only to be told that any discussion on this matter could happen only he is willing to deposit a bond of Rs. 50000/- in advance. It was a difficult phase and a difficult decision on the part of the village.
Dalal is the middleman who negotiates with the farmers and peasants for their land to be sold off for industries. There are several villages in the nearby vicinity where various corporate houses are coming up with factories and plants.
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Unable to arrange for the money Parasram and his family still remain out of the village common mode of interaction. Hardly anyone in the village speaks to him, no shops provide any grocery or other things, no villager provides him any work in his field during crop season. He has to go off for every little thing.
I WAS TOLD TO PAY A BOND OF RS. 50000/- FOR ANY DISCUSSION PARASRAM MANHAR Along with Panuram, Shivprasad Shive and Ghurva Tandon, I was socially boycotted last year. This was actually done with the caste feeling. When enquired what should I do to be included back, I was told to deposit a bond of Rs. 50000/- first for any sort of discussion on my inclusion or even to know the reason for the same. The reason that they told me was that I began the construction of a house on encroached land. Out of the three cent land on which my house stands, half is my own. This is adjacent my own cultivable land of 50 cents. The construction of my house is still incomplete. I and my wife work as migrant labourers for nearly seven months a year. We had saved some money from this, which was utilised for constructing it. Now they say that it should be broken. Even outside industrialist get land very easily in all the villages around without any , but the Photo 5 Parasram Manhar and family ones who had been living in the same village have been denied of the right to hold a homestead land. They couldnt see a poor Satnami constructing his own house and perhaps this was the reason for throwing me out of the village too. It was Rajkumar who told me that I need to pay this penalty. The amount was too much for me. Due to my poverty state, I couldnt pay it and I am still not involved in any of the activities of the village.
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Apart from the Dalits, one Sahu was also excommunicated from the village by the same Gudi baithak. The reasons seem to be the same. He had been someone who stood by the excommunicated Dalits and he was also poor. His name also came since he was one of the persons who raised the question of irregularity in the PDS. This automatically meant that he was going against the normal rule of the village which invited ire of the feudal section. He and his family were also socially boycotted by the village Gudi. The team also came across various forms of social discrimination, untouchability practices and exclusion in the existence in the village. Separate ghat12, separate drinking water sources such as wells, hand pumps, disallowing Satnami participation in Hindu festivals, rituals, processions, such as Durga pooja, Ganesh pooja, Rath yatra, Devgudi Pooja, etc.
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Ghat is the bathing spots. Generally in the village people bath in the same tank (pond) where there are separate allocated places for both the upper caste and ex-untouchable castes.
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Talking with Dalits of Karauvadih also realised that there has been the system of imposition of poni-pasari13 in the village. In mid-May the caste Hindus under the leadership of Leeladhar Chandra convened a meeting in which the whole village except the (majority of) Dalits attended. Dalits are not able to do any work in the village. Even when the Panchayat and Sarpanch wants to help them with some work in schemes like MNREGA, the Dalits are not in a position to work as they are gripped with fear and terror of social excommunication.
5. Grooming Undercurrents 5.1 Caste discrimination, untouchability and narrow mindedness gave birth to revenge, resentment and antagonism against Dalits in Karauvadih village. The landed feudal class who dictated the social, political and cultural terms were not able to accept and acknowledge the growth, development and generation of power among Dalits. 5.2 As a part of it several anti-Dalit activities and deeds were galvanised. Howbeit this generated a new level of awakening among the Dalits regarding their rights as human beings. This included their social, political, economic and religious rights. This awareness in fact fumed the non-Dalits to the maximum extremes. Hence they had been looking for an opportunity to nullify this awakening. 5.3 In recent years the best example is the last panchayat elections when Kavita Manhar defeated the candidate of the feudal caste lords. According to the Dalits during the last panchayat elections clear caste line politics took vital shape behind the screen. Since it was reserved for Dalit woman, it was impossible for the Gautia crew to execute their rule. However they funded and supported a dummy candidate on their behalf against Kavita Manhar which was also another reason that annoyed the Gautia clique. Nurturing such politics had always been part of political process throughout the country and therefore the situation was not different in this village too. This in fact also intensified the undercurrents between the two sides. 5.4 The panchayat elections were over; however the conflict that surrounded the elections remained alive within the village. 5.5 Even the police and administration do not dare to go against the Gautia lords. They still have an upper hand on all social, political decision making process. It is not that this is the only village with Gautia shasan14 in this area. There are many villages with similar social systems. In all these villages and in the entire JanjgirChampa district there is an unholy alliance amidst the Gautia, Daus, Malguzars and Zamindars in existence.
Poni-pasari is a term usually used to indicate any sort of relationship that is entirely based on caste hierarchy. It also means if needed the traditional caste profession of the Dalits could be forcefully imposed. Anyone who dares to break this social barrier will not be spared or considered as a part of the mainline dominant caste Hindus. They would be decasted to the range of the Dalit communities. 14 Shasan means rule
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All these contribute to the blowing up of the tensions of which the reactions had been seen in the village.
6. Situation after the incident 6.1 After the initial incident of June 6, 2011 and the police complaint dated June 11, 2011 by the Sarpanch there hasnt been much of difference in the village. 6.2 Sarpanch and her family along with others who were excommunicated earlier still remain out of the social life in the village. Certainly a sense of fear and terror had gripped the Dalits of Karauvadih Panchayat. The tension seemed to have engulfed more and more and people in the Dalit lane fear to go out once it is dark. 6.3 Although none has been fined with the Rs. 5000/- mark as announced by the Gudi for working on the Panchayat schemes, it is also a fact that the people of Karauvadih village havent come forward to do any of these work. All support was from the residents of Moolidih village which is also a village within Karauvadih Panchayat. It was only due to this support that the Sarpanch could carry forward the Panchyat activities. 6.4 The police went to the village on the complaint of the Sarpanch and sniffed the tension between the two groups in the village. Yet they havent yet registered a FIR against the perpetrators. Though they called both the sides for a compromise but what this compromise meant to the Dalits hasnt been mentioned at all. The question is who gains out of such compromises. Since the police officials were reinformed that the tension hasnt subsided, the police went to the village on June 16, 2011 to review the situation. 6.5 When the situation didnt change on 27th June the Sarpanch and her husband reached the Collectorate seeking solution to the continuation of excommunication and dysfunction of the Panchayat activity. 6.6 The police tried to make a compromise between the two sides, which hasnt yielded the expected result. Needless to mention that there wasnt any effort from the police to resolve the problem of Karauvadih. 6.7 While enquiring with the Sarpanch about the work environment, she clearly mentioned that she is fearful of life as the environment in the village is not peaceful. She also mentioned that it was just another farce if her case is thoroughly studied of what the government keeps on harping on womens political empowerment through Panchayat Raj Institutions.
7. Polices Role under scepticism 7.1 The first and foremost question is that why did the police fail to take essential action to redress the grievance of the Dalits in Karauvadih despite several complaints. 7.2 Dalits being the victims with provisions of special protections in the constitution as well as other legal premises, what was the reason for not acting accordingly?
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What action did police took to reduce the tension is not clear. Just by calling the two sides and counselling them is in no way the ideal solution. It is observed that after this the tension hasnt reduced but increased. Not a single FIR has been filed in any of the cases despite half a dozen cases of social boycott. It is highly ridiculous on part of the police that they havent taken it seriously any of these cases despite being heinous crime as per the law of the land. Several sections of Indian Penal Code and SC/ST (PoA) 1989 are all applicable in this case as in any other case.
8. The Drame of Compromise 8.1 While the investigation team enquired about the compromise between the two sides, the Dalits stated that there was no settlement, but only an illusionary show of it. 8.2 Still going into deeper analysis the team could not access any document of mutual understanding based on which one could say that there has been some sort of understanding from both the sides. 8.3 The team also figured out that the police official remain with a prejudice that there is a problem between the Sarpanch and others in the village. This is not correct by any means. The team also understands that its this very prejudged disposition that has limited the police from taking any proper action. All they were inclined to do was to weaken the case of atrocity and draw an unacceptable drama of compromise. 8.4 Despite the so-called attempt of counselling and compromise the ground reality remained the same nothing changed for either the Sarpanch and her family or the ones who had been excommunicated earlier. Both the victims and the upper castes operators continue it as it was. None from the village dare to come forward and work in the work being provided by the panchayat under MNREGA and other schemes. Hence the standpoint is that the compromise was simply an eye washer to subsume the dissent of the Dalit community and groups. 8.5 In fact a series of similar boycotts occurred and even continue today. Why is that only in the case of Sarpanch the police took the initiative of intervention? Were they not aware of the previous occurrences? This also raises an array of questions on the validity of the such compromise of dispute which doesnt have any legal validity. 8.6 People also feel that it was a drama by design by the upper caste section in the police in nexus with the upper caste who are rich, landed and moneyed. This certainly weakens the Dalits position and prevents the culprits.
9. Violation of Constitutions Rights, Legal Rights and Rights under International Declarations, Conventions, Covenants & Laws 9.1 Constitutional Rights are the first to be violated in a series of other violation. More specifically the fundamental rights mentioned under Part III are time and again denied to the Dalits across the country, exceptionally in this case. 11
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Fundamental rights under Articles 1415, 15(1)16, 1717, 1918 and 2119 are clearly violated. Many other articles such as Article 38(1)20, 38(2)21, 39(b)22, 39(A)23, 4024, 4625 under the Directive Principles of State Policy are also violated. Another major violation is of the sections of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. Punishment containing for offences arising out of untouchability is mentioned in section 7(1)(a), (b), (c), (d) and also in 7(2)(i), (ii)26.
Equality before the law The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. 16 Prohibition of Discrimination on Grounds of Religion, Race, Caste, Sex or Place of Birth The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. 17 Abolition of Untouchability Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability ar i s ing out of Untouchabi l i ty shal l be an of f enc e punishable in accordance with law. 18 Right to Freedom: Freedom of Speech and Expression All citizens shall have the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression; (b) to assemble peaceably and without arms; (c) to form associations or unions; 19 Protection of Life and Personal Liberty: This Articles states: No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, except according to procedure established by law. This Article restraints the executive from proceeding against the life of personal liberty of the individual except under the authority of law made by the state. 20 State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people: The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life. 21 The State shall, in particular, strive to minimize the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations. 22 It upholds that the State shall in particular direct its policy towards securing that the ownership and control of the material resource of the community are so distributed as best to sub-serve the common good; that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of the wealth and means of production to the common detriment. 23 The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. 24 The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government. 25 The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. 26 Punishment for other offences arising out of untouchability (1) Whoever(a) prevents any person from exercising any right accruing to him by reason of the abolition of untouchability under Article 17 of the Constitution; or (b) molests, injuries, annoys, obstructs or causes or attempts to cause obstruction to any person in the exercise of any such right or molest, injuries, annoys or boycotts any person by reason of his having exercised any such right; or (c) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise incites or encourages any person or class of persons or the public generally to practise untouchability in any form whatsoever; [or] [(d) insults or attempts to insult on the ground of untouchability a member of the Scheduled Caste] (2) Whoever(i) denies to any person belonging to his community or any section thereof any right or privilege to which such person would be entitled as a member of such community or section; or
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This whole act of the caste Hindus vehemently violates section 2 (d)27 of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 199328. Apart from this, it also goes against various international covenants and charters on human rights to which India is also a signatory. Being a signatory it is fully obliged to stand with these international legal frameworks of law and order cutting across the boundaries of nation state. For instance it apparently violates the various Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR remains as a common standard of achievement of Human Rights for all people and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society. Keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, the state is bound to strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the people of Member States themselves and among the people of territories under their jurisdiction. Articles 129, 330, 531, 632, 733, 834, 1835, 1936, 27(1)37, 2838 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights are undoubtedly violated. Dalits are counted as an unnecessary burden in the series of incidences indicted in Karauvadih village. All people in any nation have the right to self-determination and self-respect. Scores of articles, sections sub-sections, and clauses of international conventions, covenants, laws, etc. are vehemently violated due to the frivolous attitude towards
(ii) takes any part in the ex-communication of such person, on the ground that such person has refused to practise untouchability that such person has done any act in furtherance of the objects of this Act, 27 Section 2(d) of the Human Rights Act defines human rights means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by Courts in India. Article 19 of the Constitution of India deals with protection of certain rights of the people regarding freedom of speech, etc. 28 This act is primarily to provide the Constitution of the National Human Rights Commission, State Human Rights Commissions in States and Human Rights Courts for better protection of human rights. However this is the only larger legal framework giving a clear definition of human rights in India. Hence the definition of Human Rights is taken from it. 29 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. 30 Everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person. 31 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degraded treatment or punishment. 32 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before law. 33 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. 34 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or law. 35 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. 36 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. 37 Everyone has the right freely to participate n the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. 38 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration can be fully realized.
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the Dalits. Among the major ones are International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace and UN Declaration on the right to Development.
10. Arising Concerns 10.1 The first and the foremost concern out of this whole incident indicate that the monster of caste is still alive with its dreadful venom. 10.2 Dalit in Karauvadih, including the Sarpanch and her family live in fear and terror. The fear psychology designed had properly worked in this case too, only to prove that anyone who would try to break the shackles of caste would be defeated without any response. In this the social system is crucially assimilated into the political, administrative and psychological frameworks. 10.3 Indias caste system is perhaps the worlds longest surviving social hierarchy. An indispensable feature of Hinduism, caste encompasses a complex ordering of social groups on the basis of ritual purity. This question of pure and impure, sane and insane, holy and unholy, sanctified and unsanctified, sacred and sacrilege are decided on the basis of the caste to which one is born. In Karauvadih the Satnamis are the impure, insane, unholy, sacrilege and unsanctified as per the caste rule. They are not supposed to hold land or even owe a proper house. How could the caste Hindus tolerate such acts of the Satnamis? How could the Dalit be permitted to rule the non-Dalits in the Panchayat politically? Does it not mean that political rule is also in one sense a defeat of the social hierarchy? 10.4 Another ploy to make caste hierarchy acceptable to all was the strategy of introducing an extensive system of 'graded inferiority', providing everyone with an inferior grade immediately beneath them. 10.5 People have got less faith in the police and administration, since caste had gone deep into the performance, functioning and execution of their duties. Yet people are unable to speak about it, due to horror looming on their head. It appears like the police played the best role to weaken the case. The present status of accepting whatever is done to them is taken as a part of their fate as it was in the past. How could the Dalits rely on such an uneven system of administration based on caste? This is a violation of the legal safeguards. It is a fact that police cannot intervene into judicial procedures. But then the question is who is to provide relief to the victims? Where is justice to Dalits in such a system of unequal human relationship? 10.6 Violation of legal framework is not only the violation of Dalit rights but also the gross violation of human rights at large. In Karauvadih it is not just the violation 14
10.7
10.8
of national laws and acts but also a gross violation of international human rights structure. The drama of compromise is an eye washer, to dilute criminal procedure, nondeliverance of justice and letting the criminal caste lords scot-free instead of bringing them under the grip of law. This is an effortless means to protect the culprits under the pretext of upholding peace. But there seem no talks, let alone peace, between the two sections in the village nor is justice done. What does compromise mean under such circumstances? Leaving the culprits scot-free without applying the legal discourse is by all means arming them with more confidence and courage to carryon such activities in future.
11. Recommendations 11.1 Under the above mentioned circumstances we recommend for an impartial investigation into the series of incidences of Karauvadih. All forces with the intention of political gain and drawing political mileage should be kept away from the investigation process. However the Dalit organisations engaged in this process should be involved and consulted in this case in view of holding a fair and just investigation. 11.2 We insist to instruct the police to take essential steps and register an FIR in the case in a proper manner quoting all appropriate sections and clauses in this matter so that justice is done to the Dalits and no one dares to repeat the same in future. 11.3 We recommend the immediate arrest of all the culprits in this case who had continued the heinous crime against an elected woman representative from one of the most marginalised communities in India. 11.4 We recommend that essential steps be taken in order to create a conducive atmosphere whereby the Dalit woman Sarpanch could perform her duties in a free and fair environment. Since she has to deliver her services to the larger public such an intervention is abruptly needful. 11.5 We suggest that compensation, relief and justice be provided to the other victims of social boycott and caste discrimination in Karauvahdih. 11.6 The State government should instruct and prevent the police and administrative officials from behaving/acting like the agents of upper caste section in rural areas. This is essential to bring down the level of crime against Dalits in Chhattisgarh. It should also be noted that the law enforcement officials are not expected to dilute the gravity of such crime acts against Dalits and forcing the victims for a compromise. 11.7 We recommend the state government to form of peoples vigilance committees across the state to keep a vigil or caste based discrimination, untouchability, violence and exclusion of Dalits, Adivasis and marginalized minorities. 11.8 Proper direction should be given to the district administration to ensure the freedom, safety and security of Dalits living under utter terror and fear. But this should not be done at the cost of defending the culprits and weaking this crime against humanity. 15
11.9
We recommend that the government should provide essential guidelines and directions to all its officials to take precautionary measure of preventing such atrocious incidences on Dalits and Dalit women in particular in future. 11.10 We recommend the imposition of a strict ban on all forms of social boycotts with severe punitive action and consequences. 11.11 Using of derogatory language should be banned and considered to be a heinous crime by all sections of law.
Vibhishan Patre
Sandhya Bodhlekar
Bundkunwar Banjare
Pitambar Nirala
Dhanandjay Jangde
Santosh Ghitore
Compiled and Edited by Goldy M. George (On behalf of the investigation team)
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Dalit Mukti Morcha Pamgarh, Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh, India Madhukar Gorakh President 9300311123 Vibhishan Patre General Secretary 7869836444 Sandhya Bodhlekar Executive Convener 9685273816
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Report of Social Boycott of Dalit Women Sarpanch - PD

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