India, Facing Condemnation on Human Rights Violations at UN Headquarters Geneva

By Sajjad Shaukat

Recently, the unique peaceful protest was held in front of UN Headquarters Geneva, made by placing, standees’ posters and banners bearing details of Indian gross human rights violations. The depicted pictorial messages displayed the mistreatment of women in India, child marriages, persecution of Christians, state sponsored terror attacks on minorities, maltreatment of lower-caste Dalits including burning of Christian churches and religious preachers.

The protest coincided during the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 5, this year summoned the Swiss ambassador to New Delhi, Ralf Heckner and raised issue of malicious anti-India posters in front of UN building in Geneva. He told the MEA that he would convey India’s concerns to Berne. But, he clarified that the posters in Geneva are part of the space provided to all, and it does not reflect the Swiss government’s position.

Meanwhile, a video of the posters, which is being widely circulated on social media and has over a million views, shows slogans such as “women in India are treated as slaves”, “serious violation of child rights in India”, “India stop burning churches” etc.

Notably, Indian Constitution declares India to be a secular and democratic state, which safeguards the rights of religious minorities, but, in practice, its successive regimes continued undemocratic practices by targeting Muslims, Hindus, Christians and even Dalits- lower-caste Hindus with impunity—and women.

In this respect, a disturbing video showing a group of men dragging a woman by her hair, brutally kicking and assaulting her with sticks, while she screams and cries surrounded by onlookers is going viral on social media platforms  As per credible SM and twitter accounts, the footage of the violent incident took place in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit girl is being subjected to extreme violence,  taking place in an open field near a water body, on the charges of her bathing in the nearby water;  making the water impure/de-sanctifying it for upper class Hindus.

The footage has again uncovered the charade from the face of India claiming to be on the path of social and economic progress and laying bare the inherent flaws in Hindutva ideology.

In this context, Beena Pallical-the General Secretary of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights in India pointed out; “For centuries, the Dalit minority in South Asia have faced discrimination, marginalization, stigma and violence. And this violence stems from the illogical phenomena of descent based discrimination.”

He explained: “The Dalits, commonly known as the ‘untouchables’ in India and other South Asian countries, are born into a lifetime of marginalization, exclusion and human rights violations. They are strictly ‘ranked’–based on their descent—and are thereby placed at the lowest echelon of society’s classes. In some countries, descent-based discrimination does not only permeate institutions, social structures and everyday life, it is firmly established under the law.”

However, injustice directed at the Dalits cause profound trauma and suffering across generations—stigma follows an individual from birth until death, affecting all aspects of life from education, housing, work, access to justice and political participation. Women and girls are often victims of sexual violence, trafficking and are especially vulnerable to early and forced marriage, bonded labour and harmful cultural practices.

Wikipedia writes: “The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Indian Tribes (SITs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designated in one or other of the categories.  For much of the period of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, they were known as the Depressed Classes.  In modern literature, the Scheduled Castes are sometimes referred to as Dalit, meaning “broken” or “dispersed”.

Social scientists and Dalit activists say, “Dalits-formerly known as “untouchables” are still victim of thousands of attacks each year despite laws put in place.”

In another statement, Beena Pallical said that the Dalit community would no longer stay silent. They would rise in protest against all forms of prejudice.

Besides, an emerging class of educated Dalits has begun demanding an end to caste bigotry and discrimination.

Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer, remarks, “This new generation of Dalits cannot tolerate humiliation.”

He elaborated: “Nor will they accept it…their subjugation at the hands of upper-caste Hindus…Dalits, as the lowest caste in the occupational hierarchy, have been assigned the most demeaning jobs, such as skinning dead animals or cleaning public toilets and sewers…in many cities, Dalits are not allowed to own apartments in upper-caste neighbourhoods…Dalits are not accepted socially”.

Regarding Indian caste system, modern scholars point out in the light of ground realities that persons belonging to the caste of “Brahims have been held in the greatest esteem in India” and “they have considered themselves superior to the people of other castes.”

In this context, Kallie Szczepanski wrote in his article on June 13 in 2017, “A Brahmin is a member of the highest caste or varna in Hinduism…The Brahmins are the caste from which Hindu priests are drawn, and are responsible for teaching and maintaining sacred knowledge…the other major castes, from highest to lowest, are the Kashatriya (warriors and princes), Vaisya (farmers or merchants) and Shudra (servants and sharecroppers)…Today, the Brahmins comprise about 5% of the total population of India.”

According to the International Dalit Solidarity Network, “There are an estimated 260 million Dalits worldwide. The Dalits live in South Asia (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and in communities, who migrated from South Asia across the globe.

In this connection, statistics of various reports concerning the state of Scheduled Castes (SCs) including Dalits in India show that atrocities/Crimes against the SCs have increased by 1.2% in 2021 (50900) over 2020 (50,291 cases).

Uttar Pradesh (13,146 cases) reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes accounting for 25.82% followed by Rajasthan with 14.7% (7524) and Madhya Pradesh with 14.1% (7214) during 2021. The next two states in the list are Bihar accounting for 11.4% (5842) and Odisha 4.5% (2327). These states reported 70.8% of cases of atrocities against SCs.

Nevertheless, the recent incidents of atrocities against Scheduled Castes in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana reflect the harsh realities of caste based violence in India.

Another report pointed out that atrocities/crimes against Scheduled Indian Tribes have increased by 6.4% in 2021 (8,802 cases) over 2020 (8,272 cases).

Madhya Pradesh (2627, cases) reported the highest number of cases of crimes against Scheduled Tribe accounting for 29.8% followed by Rajasthan with 24% (2121 cases) and Odisha with 7.6% (676 cases) during 2021. Maharashtra is next in the list with 7.13% (628 cases) followed by Telangana at 5.81% (512 cases). These states also reported 74.57% of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Tribes.

Cases of rape against Schedule caste women, (including minors) account for 7.64% (3893 cases), with 2585 cases of rape against Dalit women and 1285 cases of minor rape, of the total cases reported—Cases of rape, attempt to rape, and assault on women to outrage her modesty and kidnapping of women and minors cumulatively stood at 16.8% (8570 cases).

A new report disclosed that cases of rape against Schedule Tribe women stood at 15% (1324 cases). Cases of rape, attempt to rape, assault on women and kidnapping cumulatively stood at 26.8% (2364 cases)—Cases of murder, attempt to murder and grievous hurt were reported as 967, 916 and 1286 respectively against Scheduled Castes. Similarly, for Scheduled Tribes, cases of murder, attempt to murder and grievous hurt were reported as 199,148 and 114 respectively.

Cases and trials in 10108 of atrocities against SCs were completed. But, no action was taken, and discrimination continued unabated.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

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