Why Dalits continue to feel high and dry in Rajasthan

On April 8, a 19-year-old Dalit youth in Sikar was beaten up badly by two people known to him, urinated upon and forced into unnatural sex. Accompanying the blows were casteist slurs hurled at the youth. Traumatised by the attack, the boy was too scared to file a complaint. He approached the police only a week later and registered an FIR.

In another incident in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, two 18-year-old Dalit ice-cream vendors from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district were brutally beaten up, stripped, and tortured. Their private parts and fingers were pulled with pliers, they were given electric shocks and hurled with casteist slurs. Their ordeal was video-graphed by owners of the ice-cream cart, who were also from Rajasthan. The attack came when the two teens asked for their pending salary. Ironically, the atrocity happened on April 14, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, a Dalit himself, who championed their cause and was instrumental in the constitutional abolition of the discriminatory practice of untouchability.

In Rajsamand’s Dev Doongri village in November 2024, a Salvi SC family faced fierce opposition from the upper castes, when they expressed the desire to perform the last rites of their family member, Ghisa Ram, on a cremation ground allocated by the village administration. They were not only stopped and pelted with stones, but their women were also prohibited from working on MNREGA sites. Not satisfied with this, the upper caste men stopped them from buying essentials from the local fair price shops.

It isn’t just common people who are facing discrimination because of being Dalits in Rajasthan. Recently, Dalit Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly Tikaram Jully also found himself at the receiving end of deep-seated caste-driven hatred.

On Ram Navmi (April 6), Jully attended the consecration ceremony at a Ram temple in a residential society of Alwar. Later, BJP leader Gyan Dev Ahuja sprinkled Ganga jal (Ganga water) in the temple claiming, Jully’s visit had defiled the temple.

Ahuja later claimed that Congress leaders have “no moral authority” to attend such ceremonies as the party's leadership had questioned the existence of Lord Ram and "boycotted" the 2024 consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. Ahuja has since been expelled from the party.

Reacting to the ‘purification’ incident, Jully tool to X, saying, “The statement of senior BJP leader Gyandev Ahuja reveals BJP’s mindset towards Dalits. I raised the voice of Dalits in the Assembly and advocated for a campaign against untouchability. But BJP’s mentality is such that they want to wash the temple with Gangajal just because I, a Dalit, entered it. This is not only an attack on my faith but also a statement that will potentially encourage crime related to untouchability.”

Jully, on his part, said that he could not sleep properly for days thinking that “if this was happening to me, what must be happening to the common Dalits”.

What is happening to common Dalits

The statistics on Dalit atrocities corroborate Jully’s concerns in the desert state. In 2024, every month an average of six Scheduled Caste (SC) people were murdered, 39 women were raped, and 17 faced other atrocities, according to Rajasthan police records.

This data is in sync with the 2022 Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment report, which has placed Rajasthan in the second position after Uttar Pradesh. While Uttar Pradesh reported 12,714 cases accounting for 22.07% of the total 57,582 cases registered under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Rajasthan recorded 8,752 cases in the same year, i.e, 15.19% of the total.

Satish Kumar, who works for the Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR), an NGO which works for protecting rights of Dalits and monitors the number of cases atrocities against the community, claims at least 2,613 cases were lodged under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the year 2024. Other than that, 76 murders and 577 rape cases, and 57 cases of grievous injuries were also recorded. And at least 3,684 cases were filed under different Indian Penal Code/ Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (IPC/BNS) cases last year.

Worse, the preventive and accountability mechanism at the state level have failed in curbing atrocities against Dalits, especially Dalit women. Even as cases of atrocities are high, the conviction rates have stayed low.

Rajasthan has about 18% Scheduled Caste people and 13% people belonging to the Scheduled Tribe.

Discrimination on the basis of castes has been a dominant feature for long in this feudal state. “Recurring incidents of prejudice, violence and attacks against Dalits point to the deeply entrenched caste discrimination system and social inequities prevalent in today’s Rajasthan. Marginalised castes are highly deprived, especially of their social, religious, educational rights,” Dalit rights activist Bhanwar Meghwanshi told The Federal.

The data from last three years reveal that 111 Dalits, 592 women and 145 girls were raped and 27,544 individuals were subjected to caste-based atrocities, according to Rajasthan police.

Dalits, who are placed at the lowest rung of the caste order, are often considered outcastes. They have been facing prejudice and oppression since ages and their access to government welfare programmes, health, and education, is severely limited. Caste-based discrimination continues to be widespread in the state despite constitutional protection and anti-discrimination laws.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows an upward trend in Dalit atrocities over the last three years. In 2020, the number of cases registered under the SC/ST Act was 7,017, in 2021 the number was 7,524, and in 2022 the number went up to 8,752, bringing Rajasthan right behind Uttar Pradesh in caste discrimination.

Discrimination, however, doesn’t just translate into violence. It plays out in subtle forms in the daily lives of Rajasthan’s Dalits. They are denied access even to natural resources.

“Across the state, Scheduled Castes have the lowest land, livestock and minimal access to groundwater and irrigation sources. The unequal distribution of land is consequently exacerbated by differential access to water. Because drinking water is scarce and a precious resource in the extremely dry parts of western Rajasthan, its management is a kind of power play that has been exercised by powerful sections of the community to maintain their control over marginalised communities. For example, if a village has only one source of drinking water, then the SC are expected to perform free labour for the upper castes if they want to use the well water. In some cases, they are asked to fetch water from other alternative sources, even if it means traversing a long distance,” Dr Aruna Gogania, convener, PNKS Government PG College in Dausa, writes in one of her papers.

Discrimination against Dalits includes name-calling by caste, encroachment of their land, denial of services like barber’s, segregation of children in schools based on caste, denial of the right to ride mares during weddings and myiad other ways.

Defiance against discrimination

Despite the discrimination, some rays of hope do emerge with many Dalit youths now defying the age-old traditions. For instance, an increasing number of them have started riding horses in their weddings. But the cost of ‘defiance’ can be excruciating.

As recently as January this year, a Dalit groom Vijay Regar, from a small village in Ajmer district, challenged the discriminatory practice and rode a horse to his bride’s house, a first since independence in his village amidst tight police security comprising 200 of them, in fact more than the guests.

“Many Dalits are hesitant to go against the set system as the village economy is interdependent. But now there are more Dalits willing to take the risk,” Satish Kumar, of CDR tells The Federal. The CDR had filed a PIL in Rajasthan High Court in 2015 over disruptions of Dalit marriages and funeral processions.

Missing regulatory mechanisms

In 2019, only 1,121 perpetrators were convicted. In 2020, only 686 were convicted. The conviction rate in 2020 was a mere 7.84%, the lowest in the past five years, pointing to loopholes in the legal process.

“Government data reveals that the condition of these committees in Rajasthan is deplorable. The state-level committee meeting was held in 2023 after a gap of nearly 13 years. There is no trace of sub-division level committees, while district-level committees are sometimes constituted, an environment conducive to fulfilling the spirit of the law is not created. Sometimes even the members are unaware that they are part of such important committees and some said they did not receive meeting notices or time,” Tara Chand, advocate Rajasthan High Court and human rights activist, says.

The committees formed to monitor are themselves on ventilators. In 2015, in response to the petition filed by CDR, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the state government to “constitute district and state vigilance committees in accordance with Rules 16 and 17 of the Act”. But these committees, even if formed, are hardly functional.

Tara Chand adds that in the absence of monitoring committees, it is impossible to curb atrocities against Dalits.

“These monitoring and vigilance committees could play a crucial role in curbing oppression against Dalits if their formation and meetings are taken seriously. The real impact of these monitoring committees is only possible if they are made independent, resourceful and hence active,” says Tara Chand.

“The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, enacted in 1989, amended in 2015 and implemented in 2016, has several commendable provisions like identifying atrocity-prone areas and deploying special police force. Rule 16, 17 and 17 (1) provide for establishment of Monitoring Committees at the state, district and sub-division level to oversee the well-being of the Dalits. These committees are mandated to meet every six months to monitor implementation of law, vigilance over atrocity cases, social awareness and prevention efforts and to ensure administrative accountability,” he says.