Hathras Woman Burnt Over Dowry; What Bolsters Gendered Violence In The UP District?

Hathras has become infamous for the gendered violence perpetrated since the horrendous gang-rape case in 2020 broke out. It again steered conversations regarding the rape epidemic in India and now the killing of a 20-year-old woman in Chintagarhi village in the district of Uttar Pradesh state has triggered a debate on social media about the gendered violence against women in the district.

Married last year, the woman was allegedly burnt alive by her husband and his parents over dowry demands. The incident took place on Wednesday, June 8. The accused have been arrested by the police at the Chandapa police station.

20-year-old Woman Burnt Alive Over Dowry

According to reports, based on the complaint of the woman’s father at the Chandapa police station, the perpetrators including husband Anil Kumar Singh, father-in-law Mahendra Singh and mother-in-law Yasoda, have been arrested and sent to judicial custody. Her father, Hiralal Singh, alleged that Payal, the deceased woman, was tortured by her husband and in-laws who kept demanding a huge amount of money since her marriage. 

Fifty years after legislation criminalising accepting, demanding or giving dowry was passed, cases like these keep happening, why? What fuels the entitlement of the men and their families to demand dowry? Why do people still deem it okay to demand dowry and torture women if they don't fetch money? Why?

All these questions may loom large over us every time news of any such news breaks out yet it never comes to an inference. This is not the first time a report of gendered violence emerged from Hathras.

On September 14, 2020, a 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped and tortured by four men from the upper caste in the district. The woman after a fortnight succumbed to her injuries and was forcefully cremated by the state while her family members were locked up in their house.

Suggested Reading: 10 things to know about the Hathras Gang Rape Case

That was not a sheltered example but a recurring problem in the country, where brutal violence is a tool of the power to crush and subjugate the Dalit body.

Gendered violence including dowry and sexually violent acts like rape is about control, subjugation, and asserting dominance and power over women. In the Indian context, it also extends to establishing the dominance of their castes.

Persons of Dalit Bahujan Adivasi communities, especially the women, have been subjected to ruthless oppression over their caste and gender identities. Their predicament in the last 75 years since Indian independence has not seen a drastic change. The wrongs were never corrected, why? When will we recognise that the lives of DBA persons, especially women, do matter?

The National Crime Records Bureau or the NCRB 2019 data revealed that Uttar Pradesh registered the highest number of cases against Scheduled Castes - 11,829 cases or 25.8 per cent of the cases reported across the country. In terms of the number of rapes against Dalit women, Uttar Pradesh rates second after Rajasthan.

In India, 88 cases were documented every day on an average in 2019. Two incidents of gang rape of minors, one each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have reached the national headlines since the Hathras incident in 2020.

These women do not have the platform to talk about being subjected to rape. Their cases are dismissed and discounted like they never happened. The police detain journalists who attempt to visit places like Hathras and report the crimes and atrocities against women and figure out the cases which are being registered as well as cases which do not even reach the police stations. They torture journalists like Siddique Kappan for their efforts to reveal the truth about the place.

Women are burnt alive after the perpetrators inflict torture upon them. They are burnt in front of their family members while the accused, society and law enforcement try to malign her character. Some women do not even go near the police station fearing that even the police might rape them. Cases in Hathras carry immense public significance as it throws light on India’s discomfiting status as a casteist society that routinely terrorizes women, especially DBA women with violence, often executed with impunity. It seems that all is lost and there is no hope for justice.

The views expressed are the author's own.