It is a privilege for me to say that caste does not affect my daily life. Whenever we talk about something caste-related as a publication, there is a common theme in the comments we get – that we are perpetuating caste as a system by making everything about it, that the more you talk about it the more real it becomes. But caste is not some sort of bogeyman, used as a fear-factor to keep society in line. And when people are being regularly physically assaulted and denied equal opportunity everyday, when a person is literally killed because they ‘dared’ to marry someone out of their caste, it really makes one wonder why we insist on pretending it doesn’t exist? The caste system and caste-based discrimination, violence and killings are in our histories as much as they are a part of modern-day India.
We take pride in being a large, growing economy and society of incredible doctors, engineers, scientists, craftsmen, artists and various traditions we’re still a society where honour killing takes place more regularly than we’d like to believe. One where people are stripped and flogged, beaten to death recorded and circulated as an act of shaming on certain suspicions – if you don’t believe me, just Gooogle ‘dalit men beaten’ and see the spate of recent results for yourself. Where women are raped as a patriarchal power play by men to show their husbands/family members of a lower caste. “Rape is about power. Therefore, rape of Dalit women by upper-caste men is an exercise of power. It is also how upper-caste men can imply that Dalit men were not able to ‘protect’ women. Hence, rape is also a contest among men,” sociologist Sanjay Srivastava told DW.
The most recent case that has shocked the nation is the murder of Pranay Kumar in Telangana. Just 24 years old, he was brutally killed in front of his pregnant wife while the two were exiting a hospital. This is all in broad daylight, with camera footage as proof of the same. Their crime was to fall in love and marry outside of their prescribed castes. While his family reportedly accepted their marriage, her family did not support the daughter, who carries the family honour and name between her legs and in her womb, it seems, when it came to marrying someone of a lower caste. Reports state that following an investigation, it is her father and her uncle who masterminded the crime. “I tried to convince her many times, but she did not listen to me. I am more concerned about my status in society than my daughter,” her father stated. His words are chilling to read. Not only that, but it was also revealed that he earlier tried to bribe the gynaecologist who was overseeing her pregnancy to abort the baby.
His daughter, on the other hand, is five months pregnant and determined to get justice, stating, “the reason for this murder is only casteism.” The mindset and mentality are clear from his concise statements. He said that he had no worries about killing Pranay, it was planned and he was ready to go to jail. Because killing him, taking revenge, was taking back their family’s honour. It was an act of power, of masculinity and pride – enough to gain back respect even at the cost of going to jail. They would respect him for being a man of action… Because what is another low-caste life lost as long as the upper-caste man gets to send a message to others considering such a move to ‘stay in their place’?
This is just one case. One that was reported and caught people’s attention purely for being lucky enough to have CCTV footage go viral. In the last 2-3 years, there has been a long line of violent acts perpetrated because of caste, right from Rohith Vemula’s death to V Shankar’s public hacking, similar to the case of Pranay Kumar. Again, the cases that managed to trickle into mainstream media enough that we could not ignore them.
We cannot hide in our urban spaces claiming that these boundaries do not exist. Every time a case of violence finds itself on the media wave, the reality of casteism rears its ugly head right in our faces. Well, at least until it is swatted away as a thing of the past. We live in a bubble until these things hit close to home. That’s when we protest, raise slogans and banners calling for justice. We’re in the safe confines of our homes where caste does not determine our access to opportunities, to, not just housing but the vicinity within which we can live to others; who we can marry and whether we can ride a horse in public or not, allegedly.
Legally speaking, our Constitution on paper is pretty great regarding caste. But they’re merely words if there is no effect or impact on daily life. It’s supposed to be a core legal framework that would abolish untouchability and caste-based discrimination – the thought that human beings are ‘polluting’ to others. So, how do we change? How do we stop caste-based killings, discrimination and prejudices when there is no fear of repercussions; when the judicial process is long and tedious or when caste is used as a political tool to gain votes and sway opinions? It’s hard to say, but the least we can do is take off the blinders and recognise the problem. Start at home. As parents, create an environment that talks about existing evils and how to move away from them. Promote education and awareness across social strata. Make your point, but listen to others as well, teach people to be open to dialogue. It’s not much, and it’s going to take time, but we have to start somewhere.
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