The Dead Body and Its Fragment

The alleged rape, brutal killing and clandestine cremation of a nine-year-old Dalit girl near Delhi is another among a series of heinous crimes in the “carnival” of atrocities against Dalits. The regular occurrence of atrocities against Dalits throughout India has rendered the protests directed at such crimes against “humanity” a matter of mere rhetoric. Anti-atrocity protests, currently, have no impact on the moral sensibility of human beings. The rhetoric suggests that the protests are inconsequential. And, yet, such protests remain important as they are launched in defence of the human rights and dignity of those who feel cornered by civil society and ignored, if not intimidated, by the state. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there has been a 19% increase in Dalit atrocity cases between 2015 and 2019.

It is interesting to note that while the government in power sounds its success in accommodating “in bulk” Scheduled Caste persons into the cabinet, and thereby taking credit for such patronage—seen as time-tested and self-serving, but it is quite rare for such a government to also express their genuine concern over the rising cases of atrocities against the Dalits. Since the social responsibility to protest against caste-based atrocities is left to Dalits and those who are driven by the need to defend human rights, the question of defending and defining the membership to the human community squarely falls on the Dalits as well as socially vigilant and conscientious members who are far fewer in numbers.