In other words, the state and parts of society in India conspire to downplay or erase ,
In other words, the state and parts of society in India conspire to downplay or erase the links between sexual violence and the hierarchies of caste.
Dalit women
Image source, afp
Image caption,
There are an estimated 80 million Dalit women in India
After the alleged rape in Hathras last week, the government of Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by an upper caste politician belonging to the ruling BJP party, hastily cremated the victim in the middle of the night and briefly barred the media and opposition politicians from visiting the victim's village and family, prompting suspicions of a cover up. In an unprecedented move, the government hired a private public relations agency to push its narrative that this was not an incident of rape.
Dalit women across swathes of rural India have been victims of sexual violence for as long as anyone can remember. In these regions, much of the land, resources and social power remain with the upper and middle castes. Despite a 1989 law to prevent atrocities against the community, there was no let-up in violence against Dalit women. They continue to be stalked, abused, molested, raped and murdered with impunity.
Ten Dalit women were raped every day in India last year, according to official figures. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of cases of violence against women as well as the highest number of cases of sexual assault against girls. Three states - Uttar Articles on Feminism
Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan - report more than half of the cases of atrocities against the Dalits.
In a 2006 study of 500 Dalit women in four states across India on the forms of violence they had faced, 54% had been physically assaulted; 46% had been sexually harassed; 43% had faced domestic violence; 23% had been raped; and 62% had been verbally abused.
Indian activists protest against an alleged gang rape of a 19 years old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh state, in Bhopal,
Image source, epa
Image caption,
There have been countrywide protests against the rape of the 19-year-old Dalit woman
And Dalit women bear the brunt of violence of all castes, including their own. The Centre for Dalit Rights group examined 100 incidents of sexual violence against Dalit women and girls across 16 districts in India between 2004 and 2013. It found that 46% of the victims were aged below 18 and 85% were less than 30 years old. The perpetrators of the violence came from 36 different castes, including Dalit.
