Monday May 17, 2010
Facing increasing caste violence
INDIA DIARY
By COOMI KAPOOR
While the founding fathers had hoped that the Constitution would lay
the foundations of a casteless and classless society, the influence of
caste has increased in recent years instead of decreasing.
THEY are killing their sons and daughters in the name of caste. And
what is more, killers have the sanction of their caste community. Love
and marriage running foul of the centuries-old caste traditions have
become a very risky business indeed, especially in large parts of
muscular North India. Law and education are unequal to the sway of
caste-based traditions.
The do's and don'ts in the book of caste are simple but rigid. One is
not supposed to marry below one's caste. Also, one is not to marry
within one's immediate caste. So, anyone defying that diktat,
supposedly handed down from generations in Haryana, UP, Bihar,
Jharkhand, etc., risks the wrath of the entire community.
Because most such inter-caste marriages take place without the consent
of the parents of the boy or the girl, depending on who is more in
violation of the unwritten caste code, the couple run the risk of
being assaulted by their own relatives.
Indeed, caste murders - or honour killings as the community calls them
- are again in the news following a recent court order awarding death
sentence to the father and brother of a young girl who had married a
lower caste boy in Haryana while a few of their accomplices were given
life imprisonment.
The couple were hacked to death in full view of the entire village but
no one had come forward to save them. Nor did anyone agree to bear
testimony in the court of law, so deep ran the feeling that the
deceased had indeed defied the age-old customs.
In the last couple of days there are at least three clear cases of
inter-caste crimes reported by national dailies.
A young Delhi-based journalist was found dead in suspicious
circumstances in her parents' home in Jharkhand. The girl, a Brahmin,
was keen to marry a fellow journalist belonging to a lower caste. Her
parents were dead against the marriage. The mother was arrested on
suspicion of murder.
In the Jat Sikh belt of Punjab, it was reported on May 13 that a
newly-married woman and her mother-in-law were hacked to death by the
girl's family while the woman's husband escaped with serious gunshot
wounds and is now fighting for life in a hospital.
The police said it was a clear case of "honour killing" as the girl's
parents were angry with her for marrying against their will. In fact,
a cursory look at the regional vernacular press will yield immense
proof of caste-related killings and violence.
Back to the public controversy triggered by the Jat elders in Haryana.
Motivated by the desire to protect the father-son duo convicted for
the murder of the young couple, the council of village elders, called
"khap" in the local language, has proposed a change in the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955.
They want the law to be amended to prevent marriages within the same
sub-caste (gotra). Indeed, they have proposed that boys and girls from
the same village should be barred from marrying since by custom they
are brother and sister.
So strong is the hold of the "khap" on the Jats, who constitute the
most dominant caste group in Haryana with 26% of the total population,
that even politicians are reluctant to defy them.
Indeed, a number of politicians cutting across party lines have lent
them support, saying that there was merit in the demand for a change
in the marriage law to prevent same sub-caste marriages. Former Chief
Minister Om Prakash Chautala and ruling Congress Party MP, Naveen
Jindal, have openly endorsed the demand.
Jindal, a foreign- educated, modern-minded industrialist, has had to
fall in line because his parliamentary constituency is dominated by
Jats. Since the "khap", whose writ runs over the entire community, is
also known to support or boycott politicians, Jindal is clearly
worried should he incur their wrath. Yet, his party has asked him to
explain his conduct.
Meanwhile, much to the chagrin of modern, progressive elements, the
Government succumbed to the demand for a caste-based census. The
Cabinet was divided over caste being enumerated, the last time it was
done was in the decennial census of 1931.
But the strident backward caste lobby, believing that it numbered far
more than officially recognized, forced the issue. Given that
reservations in jobs and educational institutions are caste-based,
they argued that caste enumeration was necessary.
However, critics are unsparing. Founding Fathers had hoped that the
Constitution would lay the foundations of a casteless, classless
society. Instead of lessening, the influence of caste has increased in
recent years. Class disparities too have sharpened enormously.
Besides, there are practical difficulties in recording the castes of a
billion-plus people as there are more than 18,000 caste groups.
Enumerators are not equipped to process such a heavy dose of data. It
will be a Herculean task to make sense of such a great mass of
esoteric information.
Curiously, in the last caste-based census in 1931, there was a
tendency to enlist one's caste higher than what it actually was in the
Hindu "varna" system due to the opprobrium attached to lower castes.
Now, the danger is that people might declare themselves lower in the
caste hierarchy in order to avail of various benefits provided for the
backward castes.
For instance, a high caste Brahmin might record his caste as Yadav, a
backward caste, to ensure that his children get preference in
admissions in educational institutions and in government jobs.
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