Hathras Gangrape Verdict: When Will Women Gain Freedom From Brahmanical Patriarchy?

Let’s recap: In 2020, in UP’s Hathras, four upper caste men raped a 19-year-old Dalit girl, and beat her so severely that she incurred multiple fractures and even her tongue was cut off. The girl was later admitted to the hospital but after a struggle of two weeks, the survivor breathed her last on 29 September  2020. The incident sent shockwaves through the entire nation and sparked debate on Brahmanical patriarchy and the suppression of Dalit women. It toned down when the four accused were arrested. But now it seems we will have to start again. Will Brahmanical patriarchy ever end?

The four men were arrested after a chargesheet was filed by CBI. But now three of them have been acquitted and one has been sentenced to life imprisonment. While announcing the verdict on Thursday, March 2, 2023, UP court held the main accused- Sandeep-and sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, it set free the other three- Ravi, Ramu, Luv Kush. Sandeep was found guilty under Section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Another shocking part of the verdict was that none of the four accused were charged with rape or gangrape.

After the verdict, the brother of the deceased woman told The Print, “Didi toh rahi nahi, maar diya, ab hume marenge… This is all politics — politics of showing Dalits their place. So who assaulted and killed my sister?”

This question makes me numb. It makes me wonder about the situation of the family who lost their daughter to caste and gender politics. And now they have again been disrespected. This time by the law that ignored the family’s right to seek justice. The verdict proved that Dalits are still discriminated against and suppressed by the upper caste society. It asserts once again that Dalits have no right to live peacefully, safely and lawfully.

The NCRB report of 2016 stated that the cases of caste-based crime against Dalits have increased by about 25 per cent since 2010 with around a 5.5 per cent rise every year. It further pointed out that the most vulnerable and victimised group are Dalit women. Four Dalit women are raped every day in India based on caste and gender discrimination issues.

Hathras Gangrape Verdict: When Will Women Gain Freedom From Brahmanical Patriarchy

While Dalits are the most oppressed groups, Dalit women are doubly discriminated against. They are oppressed by both caste and patriarchy. And the deceased woman of the Hathras gangrape was subjected to Brahmanical patriarchy. She was raped not only because of her gender but her caste too.

And it is the same pair that has again meted the woman with injustice, now when she died. The men were not charged with rape or gang rape despite the evidence. The charge sheet has stated that the woman also "named aforesaid four accused persons in her ‘dying declaration’ recorded on 22.09.2020”, which maintains that she was gang raped on 14 September.

Doesn’t this show that the power of gender and caste dynamics overrules the country’s laws too? Why did the law ignore the allegations of the deceased woman? Why wasn’t the investigation conducted properly? Why was the girl’s body burnt even before the family could see it? Because no one wanted to pick fights with upper-caste men.

What if the case was just the opposite? Will upper caste men let go Dalits for even a single crime? I remember a case in which a Dalit was beaten up with shoes and paraded in the village just because he was caught stealing a fan from a Brahmin house.

But what now? If upper caste men are acquitted similarly all the time by the law coloured as caste and gender politics, won’t Dalit women (or women in general) feel unsafe? Won’t the fear of the law be non-existent among men and won’t crimes become casual?

So dear society, stop treating women as battlefields of caste and gender dynamics. Stop making them suffer under the vengeance of archaic divisions. Women are individuals with rights to safety and justice. And so is every Dalit. How long will it take for us to get rid of caste politics? While I put my pen down, there are many others who are still writing, suffering and losing basic rights. The conversation around caste and gender dynamics oppressing women never really stopped. Because the crime never stopped

Views expressed are the author's own.

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