Hathras Rape Case

In this article, Aliya Khan explains the horrifying situation that took place in India and the strong presence of misogyny and caste systems in modern day India

India is home to a diverse population. It runs on ‘unity in diversity’, or does it not? The

harrowing realities beneath this diversity have been unmasked time and again. A country

where people joined hands to attain justice for Nirbhaya in 2012 join hands once again, this

time for a Dalit teen, who passed away on 29 September 2020. Remember the date. This is

what happens in India – a rape case so barbarous that it shakes us all to the core and forces us to rail on the streets so we could gift justice to the parted souls of women who died in the hands of sexual assaults. This anger will die down and the remorse will set, but the atrocities committed against women and Dalits won’t. Is the gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit (lower class) by 4 upper-caste men still not enough to cognize the presence of structured misogyny and casteism in India? India on an average records 91 rapes daily (2018 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau) out of which 10 rape cases were of Dalit Women. On 14 September 2020, a Dalit teenager was found naked, bleeding from her private parts, with an injured tongue, and a broken spine by her mother in a field outside her home, in UP’s district of Hathras. After fighting for 2 weeks in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, she died. She was strangulated by her dupatta causing paralysis in all her four limbs. The family alleged that the police officials did not register their complaints and continued to humiliate them. The complaint was finally registered on September 20, 2020. The police officials refused to tag the case under rape and proclaimed that the victim was lying about the sexual assaults. Four men – Ram Singh, Sandeep Singh, Ravi Singh, and Luv Kush (Thakurs/’Upper Caste’) have been arrested for gang rape. They will also be tried for murder. The police professed that the girl hadn’t mentioned ‘rape’ in her statements. However, on 22 and September 2020, the girl claimed that four upper-caste men raped her. The family has alleged that in the previous years they have received threats and harassment from the Thakur community. The police officials told reporters that the forensic report had found &quote ; no semen or semen excretion &quote; in the viscera sample of the victim, and the cause of death was due to & quote; trauma caused by the assault &quote. The ‘Anti-Rape Law’ in India has expanded the definition of rape –which includes oral sex and sex with penetrative objects. Therefore, the presence or absence of semen doesn’t prove whether she was raped or not. Also, the forensic sample - including vaginal swabs- was sent to the forensic laboratory on 25 September, 11 days after the incident. The likelihood of finding evidence after three days is low. Pieces of evidence should be collected under 96 hours. Also, the semen can be identified only for 72 hours after the assault. The case doesn’t end here – the family was robbed of the right to perform the last rites of their child. The mother’s pleas of keeping the body till sunrise were denied and the victim’s body was cremated forcefully, without the consent of the parents, at midnight. Horrifying visuals from the scene show the cops haphazardly dragging the victim’s body to the funeral pyre. They even formed a human chain around the pyre to prevent anyone from interfering.

Protests have erupted across the country demanding justice for the victim, questioning the

immoral act of cremating the body against the wishes of the family, and raising their voices

against casteism. The rigid caste structure is a very present part of India. Brahman's superiority has existed and continues to exist. This social hierarchy tampers and treads on the Dalits/STs/SCs (“Lower Caste”) etc. Years of oppression, prejudice, and discrimination continue to repress the Dalits into darkness. Men have tried to gain ‘superiority’ over women in forms of sexual assaults since time immortal – Dalit women, in particular, have faced brutal harassment and subjugation. Issues of Dalit women must be prioritized.

The Hathras case is a minuscule rendition of the impunity of upper caste people over the

affliction caused to Dalit women and men The minute we spurn from the existence of

casteism is the minute we reinforce that very casteism in our environment.

You can sign the petition below:

https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-hathras-victim