Acknowledgements
This report was researched and written by Smita Narula, researcher for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. It is based on research conducted from January to March and July to August 1998. More than 300 Dalit men and women were interviewed. Interviewees were chosen on the basis of their willingness and ability to speak freely with Human Rights Watch; no interviews were conducted under circumstances that presented the risk of retaliation. Human Rights Watch also spoke with more than one hundred government officials, social workers, Dalit activists, and attorneys.
The report was edited by Patricia Gossman, senior researcher for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, Wilder Tayler, general counsel, and Cynthia Brown, program director. Production assistance was provided by Tom Kellogg, associate for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, Alex Frangos, associate, Human Rights Watch, and Raj Barot, intern. Scott Campbell, consultant to Human Rights Watch, assisted with the research in Bihar.
Human Rights Watch would like to thank the following people and organizations for their generous assistance: Henri Tiphagne and members of People's Watch, Tamil Nadu; members of Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti, Bihar; Sudha Varghese of Nari Gunjan, Bihar; Vivek Pandit and members of Samarthan, Maharashtra; Martin Macwan and members of Navsarjan, Gujarat; Paul Divakar of Sakshi, Andhra Pradesh; Ruth Manorama of the National Federation for Dalit Women; Henry Thiagaraj of the Dalit Liberation Education Trust, Tamil Nadu; and Kathy Sreedhar of the Holdeen India Fund, Washington, D.C.
We also thank the many people who prefer, for their own well-being and that of their organizations, that their names not be mentioned - an unfortunate indicator of the volatility surrounding the issue of caste conflict in India. We would like to express our gratitude to the many Dalit men, women, and children who spoke with us, recounting their personal experiences of hardship and violence. They made this report possible.
Finally, we acknowledge with appreciation the support of the Ford Foundation, which provided funding that has enabled Human Rights Watch to pursue caste and gender-related research and advocacy in India.
The recommendations for this report were drafted in consultation with over forty activists during two sets of meetings convened by Human Rights Watch in July and August 1998 in Bangalore and New Delhi, respectively. Activists and lawyers from eight states and New Delhi took part, representing prominent Dalit rights and women's rights organizations, and national civil liberties and human rights organizations. We wish to thank them for their participation and invaluable contributions.
Participants' names and organizations are listed by state.
Tamil Nadu: Henri Tiphagne, C. J. Rajan, and Vincent, People's Watch; Henri Thiagaraj and James Antony, Dalit Liberation Education Trust; V. P. Epsibai, Tamil Nadu Dalit Women's Integration Movement; S. A. Maniraj, Tamil Nadu Women's Forum; A. Vinoth, Athi Tamilar Viduthalaiiyyakkam; P. Chandrabose, Dalit Liberation Movement. Karnataka: Ruth Manorama, National Federation of Dalit Women and Women's Voice; Aloysius SJ, Lazar SJ, John SJ, Indian Social Institute; Jyothi Raj, H. M. Amitha, Rural Education for Development Society; Sam A. Chelladurai, HAKKU; Ashwini Madhyasta, Anekal Rehabilitation, Education and Development Centre. Andhra Pradesh: N. Paul Divakar, V. Nanda Gopal, SAKSHI; Bejawada Wilson, Safai Karmachari Andolan; L. Jaya, Vedika; G. Sathyavathi, Rural Awareness and Development Society; P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthi Darula Union; Maharashtra: John Samuel, National Centre for Advocacy Studies; P. A. Sebastian, Indian People's Human Rights Commission; Orissa: R. K. Nayak, Sashmi Nayak, NISWASS; Rajasthan: P. L. Mimroth, Promila, Society of Depressed People for Social Justice; Geeta Deepika Rawatt, Sasvika; Bihar: Sudha Varghese, Nari Gunjan; Radha Mohan Singh, Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti. Gujarat: Martin Macwan, Navsarjan; Meera Velayudhan, Institute for Environmental and Social Concerns. New Delhi: Dr. Walter Fernandes, Programme for Tribal Studies, Indian Social Institute; Dr. P. D. Mathew, Programme for Legal Aid, Indian Social Institute; Dr. Ambrose Pinto, Executive Director, Department of Research, Indian Social Institute; Dr. Sanjeeb K. Behera, Programme for Scheduled Castes, Indian Social Institute; Bhagwan Das, Dalit Solidarity, Asian Centre for Human Rights; South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre.
I am a twenty‑six-year‑old Dalit agricultural laborer. I earn Rs. 20 [US$0.50] a day for a full day's work. In December 1997, the police raided my village... The superintendent of police [SP] called me a pallachi, which is a caste name for prostitute. He then opened his pant zip... At 11:00 a.m. the sub-collector came. I told the collector that the SP had opened his zip and used a vulgar word. I also told him that they had broken my silver pot. The SP was angry I had pointed him out...
The next morning the police broke all the doors and arrested all the men in the village... The SP came looking for me. My husband hid under the cot. My mother was with me at the time. I was in my night clothes. The police started calling me a prostitute and started beating me. The SP dragged me naked on the road for one hundred feet. I was four months pregnant at the time... A sixty-year-old woman asked them to stop. They beat her too and fractured her hands... They brought me to the police station naked... Fifty-three men had been arrested. One of them took off his lungi [wrap-around cloth] and gave it to me to cover myself.
I begged the police officers at the jail to help me. I even told them I was pregnant. They mocked me for making such bold statements to the police the day before. I spent twenty-five days in jail. I miscarried my baby after ten days. Nothing has happened to the officers who did this to me....
-Guruswamy Guruammal, Madurai, Tamil Nadu