New Delhi: Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi-Vimukta (DBAV) activists have condemned the judgment of an Uttar Pradesh special court which acquitted three of the four accused in the Hathras gang rape and murder of September 2020. None of the accused have been found guilty of gang rape.
A statement issued by the group of activists demanded the Uttar Pradesh government to appeal the verdict in the high court without delay for a fair trial. While the victim was a 19-year-old Valmiki (oppressed caste) woman, the accused were all dominant caste Thakur men. The activists sought an inquiry against the district magistrate and the superintendent of police allegedly involved in the “foundational miscarriage of justice”.
“The judgment comes merely days before International Women’s Day, but there is nothing for us oppressed caste women to celebrate on this day, we are instead routinely reminded that our womanhood will not be respected in this caste-ridden society. This is also a bitter reminder for all of us fighting for social justice and equality,” the statement said.
The verdict delivered by the special court on March 3 convicted only one of the four accused, Sandeep, of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. None of the accused have been found guilty of gang rape.
The gang rape and the eventual death of the teenager while undergoing treatment in Delhi and the Uttar Pradesh Police’s hurried cremation of her body – during which they allegedly did not allow members of her family to be present – had led to a nationwide stir. The men accused of the crime were ‘upper’ caste Thakurs, leading many to question years of caste injustice.
Questioning the verdict, the activists said, “This is despite the dying declaration of the victim where she clearly named some of the accused of zabardasti i.e. forcibly sexually violating her. The entire process has been marred by injustices and is steeped in Brahminical patriarchy.”
The statement drew parallels between the Hathras case and the Khairlanji case where the three accused were acquitted by the court on the charge of sexual violence and under the Atrocities Act. The activists said the court had refused to invoke the SC/ST Act and held that the murder was based on revenge and the caste was not at work.
“There has been a consistent and systematic miscarriage of justice in cases of caste-based sexual violence for the whittling down of the Atrocities Act. This can be evidenced from the NCRB [National Crime Records Bureau] report which has consistently shown that atrocities against Dalits have been on the rise in recent years,” the statement said.
Speaking about the “incessant violence” against Dalits and other marginalised communities, the statement said, “Like in every caste-based sexual atrocity, this judgment reveals the depth and the scale of the systemic oppressor-caste hatred and disregard towards Dalits and their human rights. This depraved indifference has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, so much so that it amounts to an ongoing genocide.”
The activists said targeted caste-based sexual violence has a long oppressive history, starting from the religiously sanctified and undignified traditions of Devdasi, Breast tax, exoticizing paintings of tribal women’s bodies for oppressors’ gaze, and amusement, to stripping and naked parading assertive DBAV women.
“To us, it is evident how justice is delayed and denied to the oppressed caste women, with the long list of cases of violent atrocities of Mathura, Bhanwari Devi and Khairlanji. In all these cases the oppressed caste women have not been viewed as ‘ideal victims’ deserving of justice,” the statement said.
