Defining Dalits

Who are Dalits?

When defined in terms of how Dalits are treated they can be defined as a group of people in India who have been a victim of the caste system and have been segregated, discriminated and humiliated since the dawn of Indian civilization.[1] They are forced to live in servitude and have been denied all opportunities of in social, educational, cultural, economic and political fields for thousands of years on the basis of religion and caste, as a result, they were declared unapproachable, and untouchables.[2] Although they are generally understood as people belonging to the so called lower castes in the atrocious Hindu caste system. Caste is the by-product which is the bye-product of Chaturvarnya Vyavastha which divided the people into four rigid varnas (classes) Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras and Dalits are seen as Shudras. Shudras is a caste associated with scavengers, or safai karamcharis in the Hindu society. Some see Dalits as a special type of minority, where the cause of discrimination and exclusion is not distinct identity.[3]

In contradiction to the general understanding of the term ‘Dalit’, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar believed that Dalits should be treated as a distinct class of people not belonging to the Hindu religion, as the other classes of people under the Hindu religion treated them worse than slaves and more like beasts. He argued to negating the argument of Dalits being Hindus by suggesting Dalits to ask some penetrating questions to the leaders of Hindu Religion. Can Hindu Religeon accept their status as human beings? Does Hindu Religion stand by their side for their equality? Can Hindu religion help them in cultivating brotherhood between the Dalits and the Hindus? Can the Hindu Religeon teach to the Hindus that the untouchables are their brothers? In short, can the Hindu religion universalize the values of life equally for all without any discrimination towards the Dalits.[4] Dr. Ambedkar proved that Dalits are a separate entity in India in the round table conference held in London during the years in 1930-1932. It was because of these relentless efforts of his the British Government was forced to enact laws for the welfare of the scheduled castes. Since he was the chairman of the drafting committee he ensure that there are provisions in the constitution to protect the rights of the Dalits or as he called it the schedule castes.

Dalit and Ambedkars’ Struggle

In the 20th century Dr. B. R. Ambedkar sharpened the consciousness of the oppressed classes and groomed them to be a powerful constituent of the present day political system. His political and literary contribution to the awakening of the Dalit Consciousness is immense and he is universally accepted as the father of the Dalit Consciousness. He not only gave a voice of the voiceless people of India but also a political identity.[5]

Now to to give a brief account of his struggle.He was against the Hindu religious belief that "All human beings are not born equal" creates caste-based discrimination against the Dalits that leads to various forms of violence against them including public humiliation, torture, rape, beating and killing. This belief of his has been discussed in the next chapter in detail. Reacting to the values of Hinduism, Rabindranath Tagore wrote,
We do not value Hinduism, we value human dignity... We want equal rights in the society. We will achieve them as far as possible while remaining within the Hindu fold or if necessary by kicking away this worthless Hindu identity.[6]

Ambedkar was a great supporter of women's liberation. He blamed the verna system, which has not only subjugated Dalits but also women. He questioned Manu Smriti (Laws of Manu), the law book (Dharam-Shastra) of Brahminic Hinduism and attributed to Manu, the legendary first man and lawgiver. Manu Smriti prescribed the Dharma of each Hindu, stating the obligations attached to his or her social class and stage of life. It was hostile to the interest of lower caste people and women. It prohibited re-marriage of widows. He felt that Manu Smriti was solely responsible for the downfall of Hindu women. He encouraged the Dalits to embrace Buddhism to liberate their own selves from Hindu subjugation. Hence he fought for the right to choose ones' faith. After embracing Buddhism, Ambedkar said, "Unfortunately for me I was born a Hindu Untouchable... I solemnly assure you I will not die as a Hindu." He practiced what he advocated and became a Buddhist in 1956.

He saw that the Dalit movement lacked philosophical justification. So he wrote about the French revolution ideas of fraternity, liberty and equality. He thought that the French and Russian revolutions failed to realize all three ideas. He believed that they could not all be realized except through the way of the Buddha.[7]

He adopted various means to safeguard Dalit rights. Ambedkar launched a movement against Dalit discrimination by creating public opinion through his writings in several periodicals such as Mook Nayak, Vahishkrit Bharat, and Equality Janta, which he started for the protection of Dalit rights.

He also launched numerous movements. One of the memorable struggles of the Dalits was the Vaikkom Satyagraha in Travancore in Maharashtra,[8] which asserted the right of the Dalits to worship in Hindu temples without hindrance. Another very significant movement was Mahad March[9] to assert the rights of Dalits to take water from public watering places. Ambedkar organized the Dalit rally to assert their legal right to take water from the Chowdar tank. The Chowdar tank of Mahad was made a public tank in 1869. In 1923, the Bombay Legislative Council passed a resolution to the effect that the Dalits be allowed to use all public watering places. The Mahad Municipality passed a resolution on 5 January 1927 to the effect that the Municipality had no objection to allowing the Dalits to use the tank. But the higher castes were hesitant in allowing the Dalits to use the tank. Soon after this resolution was passed a conference of the Dalits of the Colaba district was held for two days. Ambedkar also convened a conference on 18-20 March 1927 on this issue. On 20 March 1927, the conference exhorted the Dalits to go to the Chowdar Tank and exercise their right to take water from it. The Hindus who had exhorted them to be bold instantly realized that this was a bombshell and immediately ran away. But the electrified Dalits led by Ambedkar marched in a procession through the main streets and for the first time drank the water from Chowdar tank.

Another temple entry movement took place at the Kalaram temple at Nasik in Maharashtra State. On 13 October 1935, at a conference convened on the issue, Ambedkar recounted the experience of the depressed classes and the immense sacrifices made by them to secure minimum human rights under the aegis of Hinduism.[10]

The demand for safeguards and protection of Scheduled Castes (earlier called Depressed Class) has a long history dating to Montague-Chelmsford Reform of 1919 during the British Raj period. Ambedkar had been closely involved in the struggle to give Scheduled Caste people solid statutory safeguard. He was a delegate at the Round Table Conference in London, where he asked for separate electorate for the Dalits. It is not a surprise that subsequently Ambedkar saw to it that the welfare of the Scheduled Caste people were guaranteed in the 1949 Constitution of India in the form of reservation in legislative, employment and educational fields.[11]

How are they treated?
Dalits have been a victim of human rights since the dawn of Indian civilization they have been treated worse than beasts and slaves. This section of the Hindu society, namely, the untouchables were not only deprived of human rights but also made victims of alienations, torture, atrocities, cruelties, and as such, the violation of human rights got approval of the Hindu religious texts the Shastras and the Manusmriti.

Under the rule of the Peshwa in the Maratha Country an untouchable was not allowed to use the public streets, if a Hindu was coming along lest he should pollute the Hindu by his shadow. The untouchable was required to have a black thread either on his wrist or his neck so that he could be identified by other Hindus and they could prevent themselves from coming in contact with them. Then, in Poona they were supposed to hang earthen pots around their neck to avoid their spit falling on earth and polluting another Hindu. These are just some of the very common examples of the ill treatment and actions of high-class to snatch away the dignity of Dalits.
Now to talk about their status in the pre-independence stage an incident in 1936 at the village Chakwara in Jaipur State can be quoted. An untouchable that had returned from pilgrimage had arranged to give a dinner to his fellow untouchables of the village and desire to treat guests with sumptuous meal including ghee. But while the assembly of Dalits was engaged in partaking of the food, the Hindus in their hundreds, armed with lathis (sticks), rushed to the scene, despoiled the food delaboured the untouchables who left the food served with and ran for their lives.

One wonders why was this murderous assault committed on defenseless untouchables? The reason given is that the untouchable host was impudent enough to serve ghee and his untouchable guests were foolish enough to taste it. Ghee is undoubtedly luxury for the rich. But no one could think that consumption of ghee was a mark of high social status. The Hindus of Chakwara thought otherwise and in righteous indignation avenged themselves for the wrong done to them by the untouchables, who insulted them by treating ghee as an item of their food which they ought to have known could not be theirs, consistently with the dignity of the Hindus.[12] This means that an untouchable must not use ghee even if he could afford to buy it, since it is an act of arrogance towards the Hindus.

Today Dalits are discriminated against, denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused at the hands of the police and of higher-caste groups that enjoy the state's protection. In what has been called India's "hidden apartheid," entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste. National legislation and constitutional protections serve only to camouflage the social realities of discrimination and violence faced by those living beneath the “pollution line”[13]

Despite the fact that "untouchability" was abolished under India's constitution in 1950,[14] the practice of "untouchability" – the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of their birth in certain castes – remains very much a part of rural India. "Untouchables" may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes. They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, drink from the same cups in tea stalls, or lay claim to land that is legally theirs. Dalit children are frequently made to sit in the back of classrooms, and communities as a whole are made to perform degrading rituals in the name of caste. Most Dalits continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or opportunities for better employment or education. With the exception of a minority who have benefited from India's policy of quotas in education and government jobs, Dalits are relegated to the most menial of tasks, as manual scavengers, removers of human waste and dead animals, leather workers, street sweepers, and cobblers. Dalit children make up the majority of those sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors. Dalit women face the triple burden of caste, class, and gender. Dalit girls have been forced to become prostitutes for upper-caste patrons and village priests. Sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women are used by landlords and the police to inflict political "lessons" and crush dissent within the community. According to a Tamil Nadu state government official, the raping of Dalit women exposes the hypocrisy of the caste system as "no one practices untouchability when it comes to sex."[15] Like other Indian women whose relatives are sought by the police, Dalit women have also been arrested and tortured in custody as a means of punishing their male relatives who are hiding from the authorities.

The Indian Mindset

Hinduism and Dalits

Dr. Ambedkar said “Hinduism consists of what is opposed to the noble spirit of human rights”. Dr. Ambedkar believed that religion plays an important role in the shaping of the society. Writing about it he says that, the work of the religion is similar to the work of the law or to that of the government. It is an instrument through which the religious leaders control the behavior of the individuals in the society.
Communities are such head facts of Indian social life that it would be wrong to accept that communal impulse and communal prejudice do not dominate the relations of the communities. The social psychology of the Hindu Communal Majority is dominated by the dogma which recognizes not merely inequality among the various communities. This dogma of graded inequality is absolutely inimical to liberty and fraternity. It cannot be believed that this graded inequality will vanish or Hindus will strive to abolish it. That is impossible. This inequality is not accidental or incidental. It is deem rooted in the Hindu religion and no Hindu can think of doing away with it. The Hindu communal majority with its religion of graded inequality is both: a permanent fact and a menace forever.” i.e. for the social justice and human rights.[16]

Hinduism has its roots in Brahmanism which is a doctrine of inequality and denies freedom and fraternity to a large chunk of its followers, the Hindus of lower castes, like untouchables, shudras or Dalits. When the Hindus themselves are divided into lower castes and higher castes, the inferiors and the superiors, the touchables and the untouchables, etc., the violation of human rights is natural in the Hindu society.[17] It means the creed of Hinduism can hardly be called the creed of Hinduism can hardly be called a religion of freedom, equality and fraternity; rather its roots may be found in its doctrine of chaurvarnya, i.e., the classification of Hindus in four classes- Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, is inbuilt society violating the human rights. Hinduism, thus consists of several castes and sects, which denies the opportunities to lower castes’ people of education, arms and trades to rise in life. All the rights – social, economic and political, have been invested in the upper three Varnas – Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, and the Shudras were bereft of all rights, then, what to say about the human rights for the Shudras, Untouchables and the Dalits.

If we want the Dalits to assimilate into the mainstream of the Hindu society and follow up the principle of social integration, i.e., ‘Samrasta’, then we will have to apply serious mind to the problems raised by Dr. Ambedkar and see to it that the behavior of the Hindus towards the Dalits change suitably. Dr Ambedkar has said that the Dalits can for sure ask some penetrating questions to the leaders of the Hindu religion. The can ask: “Can Hindu Religion accept their status as human beings? Does Hindu Religion stand by their side for their equality? Can Hindu religion help them in cultivating brotherhood between the Dalits and the Hindus? Can the Hindu Religion teach to the Hindus that the untouchables are their brothers? Can Hindu religion say to the Hindus that treating the Dalits as animals or behaving is a blot of sin on the head of the Hindu religion? Can Hindu religion teach its followers to cultivate friendship with the Dalits? Can Hindu religion say that the Hindus should love untouchables, should look at them with respect? In short, can the Hindu religion universalize the values of life equally for all without any discrimination towards the Dalits?”[18]

In order to establish social integration i.e., ‘Samrasta’ and in order to retain the Dalits into the fold of the Hindu religion or to bridge the gap between the Dalits and the Hindus the leaders of the Hindu religion will have to ponder over the problems of the Dalits.

Is it okay to call Dalits ‘Harijans’?

The Hindus have a community of Harijans who are called the scavengers or safai karmcharis (sweepers) in Hindu society. The word Harijan was given to the Dalits by Mahatma Gandhi, when he came in conflict with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar during the freedom movement, especially during the round table conferences. Dr Ambedkar exposed as to how the lower castes people are treated as untouchables or Shudras. He proved that people of lower caste are a separate entity in India in the round table conferences held in London during the year1930-332. Incidentally when a communal award was given by the British Prime Minister, the Untouchables were regarded as a separate entity among Hindus. Dr Ambedkar opposed this and he claimed that they cannot be said to be a separate kind of Hindus and they are a separate entity altogether.
However, in India, the Untouchables (Dalits) do not call themselves ‘Harijans’ anymore. They now call themselves a different segment of Hindu Community. They have separate identity of their own in this country, because of the reservation system and the treatment they receive from the upper castes’ Hindus. The victims of human rights’ violations have been, or are, more Dalits than others. The word ‘harijan’ has now become derogatory and degradation, which is tantamount to the violation of their Human Rights.

Majority of Scheduled Caste people did not like being called ‘Harijans’, though Gandhi used it for the SCs and he meant all the SCs were men of Hari, a name of God, in Hindu Tradition. The scheduled castes people could not digest it since it was totally opposed by Dr. Ambdkar and his followers.

The word ‘Harijan’ was taken from the holy text of Hindus i.e. Ramayana itself. Incidentally the name ‘Harijan’ became synonymous with Sweepers and now Sweepers are called ‘Harijans’. To be brief the Harijans are now deemed to be the people of the lowest community. Unfortunately they have not become a part of the mainstream of the Hindu Community. It is also desirable to ban the word ‘Harijan’, if not, all Hindus should be called Harijans, the people of Hari, the God. Would the so called upper caste Hindus digest being called Harijans? Probably not. It is a riddle for the most of Hindus, because they do not recognize Harijans to be the part of Hindu Community on one hand, and on the other, they cannot afford to separate them from the Hindu Society.

The Approach of the Government and United Nations

United Nations and Dalits

International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Convention on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention Against Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and ILO have ignored the existence of caste-based discrimination in India. But many Human Rights Organizations aired their voice against the caste based discriminations and also the violation of the rights of the Dalits in India. As a result, UN human right bodies in the recent years acknowledged and addressed the existence, prevalence and persistence of caste based discrimination in India and the rest of South Asia. It is only in 1996 the CERD committee made its first refrence to caste discrimination, untouchability and scheduled castes. Government of India argued that caste based discrimination does not come under the purview of CERD. Savitri Kunadi, India’s then permanent representative to the UN office has put on record official position that caste- system does not fall within the purview of racial discrimination.[19]

However now after the efforts of the various activists the government has accepted that violation of rights of the Dalits fall under the purview of the CERD and UN since then has been trying through its various human rights bodies to uplift the status of Dalits. A research done by UNHCR to demonstrate the status of Dalits in India gave the following recommendations for the government’s action in cooperation with the UN-
# Invite the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteurs on Torture, on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions, and on Violence against Women to visit India. The government should encourage them to include in their investigations allegations of illegal detention, abuse, and deaths of Dalits in police custody, of fake encounter killings, and of violence against Dalit women, including abuse by the police and by private upper-caste militias.

# Implement the recommendations of the 49th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In particular, the government should implement the recommendation that "special measures be taken by the authorities to prevent acts of discrimination towards persons belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes, and in the case where such acts have been committed, to conduct thorough investigations, to punish those found responsible and provide just and adequate reparation to the victims." As per committee recommendations, the committee's findings should be available to the public in local languages.

# Promptly submit the Indian government's next periodic report on compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination to CERD, as this has been overdue since January 4, 1998. As requested by CERD, the report should include "detailed information on the legislative aspects and the concrete implementation of the Directive Principles of the State Policy of the Constitution," as well as information on the powers and functions of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.[20]

# Promptly submit the Indian government's initial report on compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, as this has been overdue since August 8, 1994.

# Ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984.

Laws protecting Dalit rights

The relentless struggle launched by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar gainst the caste oppressions, forced the British Government to enact the laws for the welfare of the scheduled castes. Being the chairman of the drafting committee of Indian Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar provided certain constitutional provisions to protect the rights of Dalits in social, economic, educational, employment, and political fields, in the form of protective discriminations or preferential treatments or reservation policy.

With object of promoting the educational, economic, and political interests of scheduled castes, the constitution of India provides the following safeguards.
They are as follows:
1. Article 14-proclaims right to equality.
2. Article 15- of the constitution outlaws discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
3. Article 16 & 35-equality of opportunity in matters of public employment for SC/STs.
4. Article 17-proclaims abolition of untouchability, practice of untouchablility in any form is forbidden and punishable under any law.
5. Article 46-state shall promote the educational and economic interests of SC/STs and protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
6. Article 23-prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.
7. Article 29(2)- forbidding or any denial of admission to educational institutions maintained by the state or receiving grant out of state funds.
8. Article 330-special representation in the lower house of parliament in proportion to the population to the population of SC/STs.
9. Article 332-special representation of SC/STs in state Legislative Assemblies in proportion to the population of SC/STs.
10. Article 338(1)- appointment of national commission for SC/STs to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided in Indian constitution for social, educational and economic advancement of SC/STs in India.

Despite constitutional safeguards guaranteed to SC/STs in Indian constitution, the violation of human rights of Dalits has been continuing uninterruptedly. The discrimination against Dalits in one of the prime universities i.e. the Delhi University is well known. The courts have intervened time and again to secure Dalit rights but the University continues to engage in discriminatory practices for e.g. the Delhi High Court on 24th July, 2012 issued notice to the Delhi University on a plea challenging the allegedly discriminatory policy adopted for admitting students from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST). They alleged that the information bulletin for Dalit candidates was improper and of poor quality as compared to the kit for the general category students. "While a 70-page information bulletin, printed in colour with a personal message from the vice-chancellor and with information like the last year's cutoff marks, information about grievance and placement cell and a city map indicating the colleges' location, was given to the general candidates, the SC/ST candidates were given a shoddily printed eight-page bulletin without the necessary information," alleged a petitioner."The general category candidates could register using the online facility from anywhere in India, SC/ST candidates had to come physically to Delhi with all their original certificates to even obtain the registration form," the petition said. The petitioners alleged that while a general category candidate could register for all or any of the courses and colleges, an SC/ST candidate had a limit of 30 choices.[21]

The reasons for atrocities on SCs are attributed to their extreme poverty and illiteracy. The following acts have been enacted to prevent atrocities on SCs. They are as follows:
1. Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.
2. SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocitites Act), 1989.
3. Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
4. The SC/STs (Prevention of Atrocitites Act), 1995

To prevent the atrocities against scheduled castes the above laws need to be implemented more strictly. The officers of state who do not take interest in the atrocity cases be dismissed from service. Then cases of atrocities should be tried ensuring that there is no political interference. Civil society organizations should be made active to uplift the status of Dalits. Moreover the government needs to change its mentality as India can in no sense be called a developed state in the near future if 160 million people in the country live without dignity and basic freedoms. The governments should stop making a mess of the Dalit rights issue. The politicians it is said are looking at the Dalits as their vote banks and therefore, they have been extending the limit of reservation every ten years. Merely giving the Dalits some concessions or appeasing them does not solve the problem. The government can say those things which are not palatable both to the Dalits and non-Dalits. It has been seen if a government wants to solve an issue it can be solved this has been true in the case of child marriage, widow remarriage etc. In such a scenario a question can be asked whether there is a firm desire at the political level to find a solution to this problem or not.

Conclusion
At the end of the research it easy to arrive at the conclusion that the problem of atrocities against Dalits is a major problem, and a situation that clearly contradicts India’s claim of being modern. This problem is not only restricted to the rural India but is also a problem of the so called developed cities of the country. To support the conclusion a recent incident can be quoted where “A teenaged Dalit girl was allegedly abducted from her house in Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and gang-raped in Delhi by four men. According to the police, the girl was abducted on December 15 and was raped by four men in a moving car. She was later dumped at a bus stand, say the police.”[22] Then the constant discrimination against Dalits in the Delhi University as stated above proves the casual attitude of the government towards protecting Dalit rights.

The ultimate solution to the problem lies in the change of hearts of both Dalits and non-Dalits and development of human relationships between them. The political parties need to really take efforts to uplift Dalits then just using them as vote banks. Inter caste marriages should be promoted so that the people can think out of their caste borders. We also need to strive for economic equality. The economic inequality is a big problem which inhibits social integration.

It is necessary to bring about a change in the thinking and the attitude of people. The leaders will have to put in much more efforts to change the mentality of the non-Dalits and also that of the volunteers. It is necessary that the Dalits welcome positive changes that are coming about in the Hindu religion and they should adjust to these changes. Reservation is not a permanent solution but an interim relief. Realizing this, the Dalits will also have to accept the principles of social integrity and find out the roads of amalgamating in the mainstream of the Hindu society and they should prefer to walk to that path.[23]

The Dalits should cultivate a mentality that they are a part of the Indian culture and also a part of indivisible India and they should rush out themselves to integrate in the mainstream of Indian culture without waiting for anybody else to invite them for this noble cause. They should also shed of the feeling that they are a special class by themselves and they need help and assistance from others. They will have to see ways and means beyond reservation to uplift their social and economic status.

End-Notes
[1] Dr. Sreenivaslu N.S., Human Rights: many side to a coin, Pg. 61.
[2] Supna note 1.
[3] Das A.K. and Mohanty P.K., Human Rights in India, Pg. 167.
[4] Bhandutia B.J., Champion of Human Rights B.R. Ambedkar in 21st Century, Pg. 107
[5] Sharma Jyoti ,Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the Modern Dalit Consciousness available at http://www.bahripublications.in/admin/content-pdf/1076476325-1%20-%20Dr.%20B.R.%20Ambedkar%20-%20FULLY%20FINAL.pdf
[6] M. S. Gore, The Social Context of an Ideology (Delhi: Sage Publication, 1993), pages 91-97.
[7] Vasant Moon, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, volume 3 (Bombay: Government of Maharashtra, 1987), page 462, cited in Gail Omvedt,Ambedkar As A Human Rights Leader, available in www.ambedkar.org/gail/AmbedkarAs.htm
[8] Shyam Lal and K. S. Saxena, op. cit., page 255.
[9] Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol. 5 (Bombay: Government of Maharashtra, 1990), pages 248-252
[10] A K Majunder and Bhanwar Singh, Ambedkar and Social Justice ,New Delhi: Radha Publications, 1997, pages 159-165.
[11] Benjamin Joseph, B. R. Ambedkar: An Indefatigable Defender of Human Rights, FOCUS June 2009 Volume 56
[12] Jatava D.R., Violation of Human Rights (Facts and Foes), Cases of Human Rights Violation, Pg. 167.
[13] Supra note 10
[14] The abolishment of "untouchability" was made enforceable through the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.
[15] Human Rights Watch interview, Madras, February 13, 1998.
[16] Ambedkar, B.R., What congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1946, p.170.
[17] Jatava D.R., Violation of Human Rights., p. 70.
[18] Bhandutia B.J., Champion of Human Rights B.R. Ambedkar in 21st Century, Pg. 107
[19] Statement made at the 57th session of the Commission on Human Rights
[20] Narula Smita, Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "Untouchables", Human Rights Watch, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6a83f0.html [accessed 17 February 2013
[21] All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Organizations' Press Note avialable at (http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5267:discrimination-against-Dalits-in-admissions-to-delhi-university&catid=122:atrocities&Itemid=138), last visited on 15th Feb, 2013
[22] Ghosh Shamik, UP minor allegedly raped in moving car in Delhi, last visited on 17th February, 2013 available at http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/up-minor-allegedly-raped-in-moving-car-in-delhi-309516
[23] Supra note 14. Pg. 117.