Dalit house burnt in anti-dalit violence in Orrisa |
One would expect that because they have been included in the Hindu (Brahminical) social and religious order in India, the Dalits would be spared the violence that was perpetrated against them while they were outside the Hindu fold.
However, the contrary is true and the reason for it is that they were included into Hinduism only to serve the numbers game in the electoral process. Period.
So called 'Hindu' Dalits continue to face murder, rape, beating, tonsuring and every other conceivable form of violence, including social ostracism.
The violence is usually sparked off when a Dalit challenges the established caste laws and social order.
At other times, the violence is unleashed just in order to keep them suppressed and for this purpose even the slightest provocation results in utterly disproprotionate violence including burning of homes and entire Dalit localities and villages.
According to the National Bureau Of Crime Records, annually over 200,000 incidents of violence against the Dalits are reported in the country and this is only the tip of the iceberg because most such incidents go unreported.
Further, when such violence occurs, redressal of the incidents by the concerned authorities is almost negligible.
Ironically, among the non-casteist faiths, Sikh Dalits whose forefathers converted to Sikhism to escape caste since it propogates equality of all human beings, continue to face enormous violence of various kinds from upper caste convert sikhs.
A common occurence in the Sikh state of Punjab is social ostracism in the rural areas.
Such violence against Dalits also exist among the Muslim population int he country, which has a large section of Dalit Muslims.
The government has severe laws against all forms of discrimination against the Dalits, but on the ground it translates to very little.
NOTE: You can get very detailed and extensive information about the caste violence and atrocities against Dalits, including numerous shocking incidents, with photographs in the eBook 'The Truth About Dalits'.
