Stop Violence Against Women
Violence and Discrimination: India
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Take Action Please write to Home Secretaries in both Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh asking them to work towards ending violence and discrimination against women.
Urge the Government of Maharashtra to guarantee the safety of those involved in a protest march in Maharashtra, western India, on 25 June and ivestigate the killing of three people and injuring of 37.
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Women in India are subject to discrimination not just on the basis of gender but on the basis of numerous other factors such as caste, community, religious affiliation and class. India's caste system involves a social hierarchy and is a feature of Hinduism. People are born into a caste where they remain throughout their lives. Broad caste categories (varnas) separate caste groups according to occupation. Outside these categories are the "untouchables" or dalits whose occupations - sweepers, tanners - were viewed as "polluting" and who are subject to segregation. Many of those belonging to dalit communities are expected to stay in the profession they are born into, and overall, members of dalit and adivasi communities are less well educated than their non-dalit counterparts. Adivasis ("tribal" peoples outside the caste system) are also subject to forms of untouchability in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan where they are often indistinguishable from dalits, making them vulnerable to similar abuse and exploitation. Dalit and adivasi communities are less well educated than their non-dalit counterparts. Literacy levels among dalit women are among the lowest in the country. The situation of scheduled caste women is similar.
AI's recent report, Battle Against Fear and Discrimination, discusses these issues in the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In these two states, as in all of India, caste membership and land rights are crucial factors, which have an impact on political, social and economic relationships. Dalits, adivasis and backward or scheduled castes are the most socially and economically vulnerable as a result of lack of access to land ownership, lack of meaningful political participation and lack of free employment. Estimates suggest that 2/3 of bonded laborers in India are dalits and over half the dalit workforce are landless agricultural laborers. Sixty-six percent of all women agricultural laborers are dalits. Dalit women, and often children, dominate certain spheres of work such as civil sanitation, scavenging and leatherwork.
The 1996, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated that discrimination to which dalits and adivases are subjected falls within the scope of the Convention in which Article 1 includes "descent". This form of discrimination is also expressly forbidden by the Indian Constitution.
Violence against women
Despite many positive developments in securing women's human rights, patriarchy continues to be embedded in the social system in many parts of India including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, denying the majority of women the choice to decide how they live. The over-riding importance of "community" in a patriarchal sense ensures that women rarely have an independent say in community issues. Female feticide continues to be common. Poor families have little interest in educating girls and will often engage them in marriage as children to ensure they are taken care of economically. Levels of crime, high all over India, include rapes, kidnappings, instances of dowry death, mental and physical "torture", sexual molestation and harassment and trafficking . Domestic violence is also widespread in both Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan affecting women in all classes, castes, and religions and is often associated with "dowry". While dowry has been banned since 1961, it still contributes to high levels of violence against women, whose husbands and families harass wives for increased dowry. According to the Rajasthan Police Annual Report 1999, dowry deaths between 1997 and 1999 increased by 24.43%
Intersection of gender, class and caste
While the overall situation affects both men and women from these disadvantaged groups, gender and caste status intersect to create violence against women as a symbolic gesture of exploitation and discrimination against these communities. Sexual harassment by landowners, moneylenders and their hired thugs is common. In fact, during the January, 2000 hearing of India's report under the UN Women's Convention, Government of India representatives acknowledged that women bore the brunt of caste-based atrocities. AI saw evidence of the intersection of gender inequality and other forms of discrimination throughout Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Ram Chandra, a dalit man from Munni Khera, was married to Ramvathi and they owned land on which they had a house. Upper caste villagers were trying to take the land from them and the couple objected. On Jan.30, 1999 Ramvathi was gang-raped by five higher caste men. They are believed to have raped her as a means of isolating her and her husband within the village and the dalit community because of the stigma attached to rape and through this to punish them for refusing to give up their land. The police would not file a report and despite the Superintendent of Police ordering it, no investigation was carried out. Under extreme pressure, the couple moved to Ramvathi's village a short distance away. When they returned both were severely beaten. Ramvathi died and Ram Chandra barely survivied. The case was taken to activists who attempted to pursue it with the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women but reportedly there had been no action. They are now stay with Ram Chandra's parents far from Munni Khera and, due to continued fear for their lives and physical safety, are reluctant to pursue the case.
Violence against women within the community is often characterized by attacks on the "honor" of women and by association their communities by one group against another. The stripping and parading of women who are believes to have broken the community's rules including on the position of certain castes or to have called into question the community's honor in some way, is common in many states of India. It can be accompanied by social ostracism. In some areas this extends to the killing of women as witches or dayans. AI mission delegates were unable to document this practice which is reported to be common in Bihar, and has also been reported in Rajasthan. It is widely believed that most women killed as dayans are in fact targeted as a result of property disputes - the majority are widows.
It also must be recognized that the process of empowerment of women can lead to a backlash among male members of the family of community who react in anger to challenges to the patriarchal social structure which benefits them. Of grave concern to AI is apparent punitive nature of much violence against dalit women and women of other marginalized groups by other members of society including members of their own community, in response to attempts to assert their rights or fight against discrimination.
Access to Justice
Women from marginalized communities such as dalits, adivasis and scheduled castes face particular problems in trying to access justice. AI believes that the problems faced by marginalized women involve gender, caste and class discrimination within society, within organs of government and in the criminal justice system. The lack of access to justice for women victims of violence in this community brings into sharp focus continuing problems of violence born of discrimination at the grassroots level in Indian society. Unless supported by male relatives or a strong social group, women victims of violent crime are at a severe disadvantage within the criminal justice system. Gender biases which exist in Indian institutions are often exacerbated by ingrained caste and other biases against members of disadvantaged groups.
Non-registration of crimes is a serious problem. Without a First Information Report (FIR), a case cannot continue. A lawyer in Uttar Pradesh estimated that a maximum of 20% of cases of rape are registered and reach the courts but only 5% of rape cases against dalit women are registered. In addition, women fear reprisals and the stigma of dishonor so will think twice about making a report. Even women police officers have reported being verbally abused for trying to file a complaint. Police do not want to register crimes under the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act because of the stringent punishments against members of their own caste or those higher.
Police withhold and destroy evidence often at the behest of alleged perpetrators who might have caste or other links with police officers. Along with poor access to medical facilities in general, police often refuse to institute immediate forensic medical examinations, leading to lack of evidence when finally done. In addition, there is little access to the financial resources, time to pursue a case or legal aid support available to members of disadvantaged groups.
Women's police stations exist in Rajasthan, but some are headed by male Station house officers and complaints of rape are still carried out by male officers although sometimes accompanied by women.
Non-implementation of existing safeguards
Despite the existence of constitutional, administrative and legal provisions to protect women from all communities, and specific provisions for women in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (1989), women of disadvantaged groups are vulnerable to gender-specific abuses such as rape, stripping and being paraded naked. AI found non-implementation of the provisions set up to protect these very women against such abuses and to enable them to take advantage of the criminal justice system. Impunity for perpetrators remains one of the main obstacles to stopping violence/torture of women both in the community and by employees of the state. This pattern of non-implementation leads AI to believe that the government of India is failing to exercise due diligence in preventing these abuses.
Women's movement
Women activists in India play a crucial role in publicizing women's issues and lobbying for changes. Many of the positive initiatives of the state have been taken as a result of forceful arguments of the women's movement in the country. All over India and equally in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the challenge of defending women's human rights is compounded by gender discrimination inherent within traditional societies as well as within state structures.
Conclusions
AI is concerned that although the Indian government has made statements and administrative changes that should lead to more respect for women's human rights, it has failed to take sufficient steps - including training, action against officials who have acted in a discriminatory manner - to ensure that the criminal justice system and government administration do not perpetuate discriminatory practices prevalent in society.
While long-term prevention of violence against women must involve economic and social empowerment of women, only with a fully supportive and accountable administrative and criminal justice system will women become truly empowered. This is the only way that perpetrators of violence and the communities and public officials who protect them will realize that their acts will no longer be tolerated. The shielding of powerful individuals who perpetrate crimes against women must be condemned and stopped. 1750
