Abstract
On July 19, 2010, the Hindustan Times reported that a Dalit (“untouchable”) woman was gang-raped and murdered in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The crime was an act of revenge perpetrated by members of the Sharma family, incensed over the recent elopement of their daughter with a man from the lower-caste Singh family. Seeking retributive justice for the disgrace of the marriage, men from the Sharma family targeted a Dalit woman who, with her husband, worked in the Singh family fields. Her death was the result of her sub-caste status; while the crime cost the Singh family a valuable worker, the perceived value of her life was less than upper-caste individuals. In this case, the perpetrators of the crime were arrested, but similar atrocities are committed with frequency and impunity throughout India as a result of the entrenched practice of untouchability.
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Recommended Citation
Hart, Christine
(2011)
"Untouchability Today: The Rise of Dalit Activism,"
Human Rights & Human Welfare: Vol. 11:
Iss.
1, Article 18.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/hrhw/vol11/iss1/18
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