Dalit Woman humiliated and victimised in Uttar-Pradesh
Posted On: 09-Jul-2010 03:03:04 AM By: Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Dalit Woman humiliated and victimised in Uttar-PradeshHer one eye is
completely turned red at the moment as the upper caste goons threw
slippers at her. The entire body bears the brunt of the brahmanical
violence on July 3rd, 2010 at the Sheetalpur Tikari village under
Tharwai police station in Allahabad.
Her cloths were torn and the goons tried to pee on her mouth but the
police kept her in the police station for 24 hours and try to deny
anything like that happened.
This is the story of Lalli Devi, 45, who was constructing a house
allotted to her under the Indira Awas Yojna when Devi Sharan Mishra, a
local money lender and well connected person came along with some
other members and demolished the house.
As Lalli tried to reason with the man, she, her husband Gulab and her
son aged 12 years were beaten mercilessly by these goons. Her huts
where she used to sleep and cook were completely razed to the ground.
"It was the incident at around 8 am on Saturday when I was cleaning my
chulha", said Lalli. '
Eight members lead by Devi Mishra just entered in with lathis and
thrashed me after beating my husband and son. Sir, they put me on
ground, put their feet on my chest and tried to pee on my mouth. I
resisted but they torn my cloths, hit at me and threw slippers at me
which hurt my eyes. It is aching now and has turned red. I am still
not able to breathe properly', said Lalli when I visited her.
There is no place for them to sleep. Its rainy season and given the
nature of our villages, Lalli and her family has no way to save them
from the fury of nature.
According to police officials, there was a land feud between the two
which was in the court and there was a stay on it. When Lalli Devi was
constructing her house given to her under Indira Awas Yojna, Devi
Mishra and his gangsters demolished it and also razed her other huts
to ground, beat up her husband and thrashed her when she reacted. She
was humiliated and her body bears the mark of the thrashing.
This incident happened about 30 kilometers from Allahabad town on July
3rd, 2010 in the morning hour around 8 am. This nondescript village
resembles the old structural villages of India which Baba Saheb
Ambedkar described as 'den of feudalism, nepotism and corruption'.
The village in darkness. The village has 5 families of Yadavs, 10
families of Patels (OBCs), 25-30 families Passies (Dalits) and nearly
20 families of Brahmins. Nearly 10 families belong to Telis i.e.
Guptas and one family belong to Dhaikar, a Dalit community which is
engaged in bamboo weaving work. They make bamboo baskets and other
related things.
And see the tyranny of the caste system in the village, none of the
communities coming to her rescue. The Brahmins, as master manipulators
are using all techniques to disturb her. They are in power structure
every where. She is alone. The Kurmis near her do not feel for her,
the Pasis are known to resist yet not a single person is ready to
speak.
The terror of these Brahmin is so high that a Dalit woman says, 'why
do you speak to us. Are you not able to see our faces and judge as
what is the situation here'? Lalli Devi know this situation as she
says, ' Most of the people saw me being dragged on the ground and my
cloths torn but no body want to speak as they fear the powerful'.
A police Jeep is picketing in front of her house. She went to police
station to lodge her complaint but she was not only hounded but kept
at the police station for 24 hours. Daily Amar Ujala and Hindustan
reported it on July 6th and later the local news channels started
running the story on their prime time which suggested that Lalli Devi
was attacked and her cloths were torn but police deny she was paraded
in the village.
However, the question is whether hiding things make the grave incident
less grave? For the police officials, it is like any other land
dispute. They term it as a fight between two leaders for lording over
the Dalits and other communities in the region. The Brahmin politics
of Allahabad is well known to be explained here.
But for the information of the readers, the Member of Parliament is a
former pracharak of BJP but now his 'heart' is changed and hence is a
man of 'social justice' in the BSP, though his brother's heart still
beat for BJP and hence he is MLA from that party. The other brother
has just achieved victory for MLC on BSP ticket. None of them had
visited so far. But the leaders from other political parties are also
visiting her. I do not know but Lalli Devi tells that she was given
support of Rs 3000/- by one politician and Rs 1000/- by the other.
That is the cost of the dignity and respect of a Dalit woman in India.
The police officers on duty are mostly agreeing that she was beaten up
and 'sab kuchch galat hua' but they are not ready to accept that 'her
dignity' was attacked. When I ask them whether any case has been
filed under Prevention of SC-ST Atrocities Act, they answer in
affirmative but that has to be verified at later stage and action need
to be seen. The culprit Devi Mishra's supporter charge that the Lalli
Devi is working on behalf of village Sarpanch Yogesh Tiwari who
function as a Sarpanch pati, defecto Sarpanch of the village.
Antecedents of the culprits
Most of the villagers say that the Brahmins play power politics in the
village and that Devi Mishra is a moneylender. As we know well that in
Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, the moneylenders suck your blood more
than even the corporate. Here the interest rates are exorbitantly very
high. According to the villagers, it very according to the 'favor'
done by the moneylenders but nonetheless it starts from a minimum
interest of 5% per month but normally is 10% month. Most of the
villagers actually mortgage their papers and the problem is that at
the time of receiving the money, they do not really bother to check
the contents of the agreement and later are trapped in the game and
therefore lost their land or other immoveable assets.
Devi Mishra's supporter say that Lalli Devi does not own that land in
which she was constructing her Indira Awas as the land was legally
belong to him as he bought it from him, while Lalli Devi says that her
father in law was a habitual drunk and nobody ever took him seriously.
She also says that her husband also is not keeping well and has
hearing problem. The fact is that she lives in the Abadi i.e. human
settlement side which is never recorded and on the ground the grave
reality is that Mishra and his goons assaulted her. Even if everything
that Lalli Devi was saying wrong, that does never justify the grave
violence inflicted on her by the arrogant brahmanical forces of the
region and the dubious role played by the local police which was
unable to arrest the culprits.
Though nobody is verifying things yet some of the dalits on the
condition of anonymity informed that Devi Mishra is a Junior Engineer
with some government department. According to them, he does not go to
his office. Probably, it is a common decease in UP and elsewhere that
the upper caste benami officers. It is up to the government to think
over it and take action against him if it is proved that he is a
government servant. Not only should his job records be produced to the
court but also all those who connived with him in this misdeed should
be arrested.
The village and the lonely woman
As Baba Saheb Ambedkar said that the caste system has never provided
any unity of the oppressed and hence annihilation of caste is
essential for social justice but how and who would be interested in it
as annihilation of the caste itself mean elimination of the
brahmanical social order? This hierarchical structure keeps people
isolated and it is the biggest obstacle in the unity of the oppressed
people ghettoized in their own shells. Here also if one see the
isolation of Lalli Devi, one only realize how prophetic Ambedkar was
in his analysis of our 'great' 'villages' which has ascending order of
respect and descending order of contempt as the community that Lalli
belong to does not serve any political purpose for those for who vote
matters the most. Just adjacent to her huts are people, who are not
ready to share her pain and agony. Women are inside their house. In
the local PDS shop, I meet an old man who refuses to answer my
question. I ask him Baba just tell me what happened to Lalli and this
man says ' sab karmo ka phal hai', everything is the result of her
karma'. I ask Baba, what is your caste and this man inform me that he
is a 'Kurmi' which is a powerful backward community. Yes, she does not
belong to your caste and hence you are not bothered about her, I scold
him. Near him, is a lonely woman who brick house is just adjacent to
Lalli. Yes, Uma Devi is a Teli by caste. A single woman, she narrates
her plight as how her land was snatched and converted by the powerful
Brahmin in the village and she was thrown here. Uma is a lonely woman,
left by her husband and rejected by her family, she live a life of
pain and agony. She does not speak. The villagers speak for her as if
she can not speak. The cruelty of village life is reflected in the
eyes of Uma. Even a child can scold her in front of every one to the
'delight' of all the elders.
She shares the pain of Lalli but only say that she was not at home.
Every one is speaking the same language of not being there. How is it
possible in the village where you can see huge crowd on a small issue,
that a woman is being robbed, molested and none of them has seen it.
The police will work for a few days and after some time when
'situation' comes back to normalcy. Villagers know it well that they
will have to respond again and as there is no 'witness' to the case,
Lalli Devi may not get justice.
The only possibility is that a few politicians and administration
would try to 'compensate' her honor in a few thousands rupees. But
Lalli Devi says,' Sir, I was born here. My parents and grand parents
lived her for so long. I can not leave this place. This is my home. I
want to die here only' But the pressure is on her to leave as none is
ready to cooperate with her and we all know after several years the
judiciary would not be able to give her justice. Lalli Devi knows that
politicians are coming; media is highlighting the issue but just for a
few days. After that she will remain alone along with her husband and
a child. 'Politicians promise a lot but I know they never come back',
says Lalli.
While Lalli says she did not face any caste based discrimination but
the fact is isolation and ghettoisation is a way of life in the
villages and accepted norms. As her opponents are charging her as a
close associate with Pradhan she says categorically that she neither
knows the Sarpanch nor wants to get involved in their activity. How
will he be interested in us, she asks.
As I move around in the Pasi locality, lot of signs boards are there
putting slogans of NREGS, promising bright future for the villagers.
'Why should you leave village when the work is at home', portray a
slogan. The question one must ask these people as why migration is
increasing. Is it just for work or it is for dignity also. What do we
expect from people like Lalli Devi? Will she be allowed to live a life
peacefully in the village by the feudal structure?
There is scarcity of water in the village. In the hamlet of Pasis, for
over 25 families, they have just one water connection. So it is war
among the poor. One family pay Rs 18/- a month apart from basic
investment of Rs 3000/- yet no water on time. 'Of course, water will
be here for a few days as Netas come here and TV cameras roam around,
but once things die down, nothing happen. It will again be the same
politics of Mishras and Tiwaris, says a villager. None of them have
land and yet less than 10% of them have the BPL card. It is shameful,
say an old man that all the landless people have APL card. As far as
the job card is concern, they do not get any work. Poor people do not
even know that they have to apply for the job. They feel it is a favor
by the village Pradhan or some political party.
Conclusion
Lalli Devi's honor was violated at Sheetalpur Tikari. Her house has
been demolished. Even the police admit that she was beaten mercilessly
though they do not agree with everything that Lalti Devi speak. The
issue is much bigger here. Is the crime against her less serious? What
is the police doing. Has it really taken investigation to a
conclusion? How will it destroy the nexus of the money lending upper
castes who are illegally grabbing lands of the Dalits in these areas?
Our experience shows that the police and authorities try to shut your
mouth by compensating the person. They know well that after some days
the issue would close down.
Human Rights are meant for each citizens of the country. A truly
democratic governance structure should ensure that the most
marginalized and tiniest minority must feel safe and secure. Our
villages do not provide that confidence where the women like Lalli
Devi feel secure and can live a life with freedom and dignity. The
goons can come any time and assault her and our structure try to
compensate it in a few thousand rupees while condoning the racist
nature of our society. Though the police can not fight such violence,
it can best do the work impartially and take the case to a logical
conclusion. It will take long time. How can we ensure justice to Lalli
Devi. Can our Human Rights bodies take any action against the
authorities and follow it up? But if it takes years to get justice
then how will Lalli and her family remain free and safe from the
violence of the village and that of the goons? Will the police act
against its own officers who denied that nothing happened and Lalli
was lying?
Indian villages need radical changes. India administration needs
bigger changes so that the democratic thought can flourish and women
like Lalli Devi do not live in constant fear and humiliation. Can we
grow and ensure that each one in the country live in dignity and self
respect? Right now, we can only wait for justice to Lalli.
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