Islamabad, October 19, 2021 (PPI-OT):Dalits in India live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, beaten and their women raped with impunity by upper-caste Hindus. A report released by Kashmir Media Service said that Modi’s India has to offer nothing expect rape and hunger to India’s 80 million Dalit women, who like their male counterparts languish at the bottom of India’s unbending and harsh caste hierarchy.
“We are victims of violence because we are poor, lower caste and women, so looked down upon by all,” a Dalit woman told researcher Jayshree Mangubhai some years ago. “There is no one to help or speak for us. We face more sexual violence because we don’t have any power.”
Dalit women across India have long been victims of sexual violence at the hands of upper caste Hindus; however, they are seen as impure and deprived when it comes to basic amenities for the downtrodden community. As per India’s own National HR Commission, every other day, on average three Dalit women are raped and two are murdered every day in India.
Dalit women who comprise about 16% of India’s female population, face a “triple burden” of gender bias, caste discrimination and economic deprivation. “The Dalit female belongs to the most oppressed group in the world,” says Dr Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters. “She is a victim of the cultures, structures and institutions of oppression, both externally and internally. This manifests in perpetual violence against Dalit women.”
The KMS report said that assaults carried out against Dalit girls are often ignored by police and media in India as Dalits are a marginalized community that falls at the bottom of India’s complex caste hierarchy, permitted only to live in slums. India is the most dangerous country in the world for women and its capital city Delhi has attained notoriety as having become the rape capital of the world.
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Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
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Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org