The enigma of caste atrocities
The dominant narrative on caste today asserts that the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes or “Dalits” and Scheduled Tribes or “Tribals” face pervasive and disproportionately more violence. The situation is considered further accentuated by the alleged “caste bias” against these communities in...
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Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Oñati Socio-Legal Series |
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| Online Access: | https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1484 |
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| author | Nihar Sashittal |
| author_facet | Nihar Sashittal |
| author_sort | Nihar Sashittal |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The dominant narrative on caste today asserts that the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes or “Dalits” and Scheduled Tribes or “Tribals” face pervasive and disproportionately more violence. The situation is considered further accentuated by the alleged “caste bias” against these communities in the police and the judiciary. The stringent legal provisions passed by the Indian Parliament, specifically to address crimes against these communities, have been presented as ineffectual or insufficient in curbing this violence. The official crime statistics are often cited as supporting these claims. However, a closer look at this data on crimes against SCs and STs, including the rates of crimes, court convictions and pendency, shows that these popular claims are not based on the evidence that the data provides. Further, a scrutiny of the claims itself reveals serious conceptual problems, fallacies, and errors. This article, while analyzing the currently available data on crimes against SCs and STs, also traces the source of the problems that have marred their understanding and interpretation. We specifically look at the evolution of the word ‘atrocity’ in the context of caste, how the term acquired a strange definition, how it came to mediate the understanding of caste violence and the collection of crime statistics, and how its usage is incredibly loaded to prove the point that there is excessive violence against SCs and STs.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9a84fea85c9f4d2ebacc4be75a623e1e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2079-5971 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Oñati Socio-Legal Series |
| spelling | doaj-art-9a84fea85c9f4d2ebacc4be75a623e1e2025-08-20T01:53:34ZengOñati International Institute for the Sociology of LawOñati Socio-Legal Series2079-59712023-02-0113110.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-13322451The enigma of caste atrocitiesNihar Sashittal The dominant narrative on caste today asserts that the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes or “Dalits” and Scheduled Tribes or “Tribals” face pervasive and disproportionately more violence. The situation is considered further accentuated by the alleged “caste bias” against these communities in the police and the judiciary. The stringent legal provisions passed by the Indian Parliament, specifically to address crimes against these communities, have been presented as ineffectual or insufficient in curbing this violence. The official crime statistics are often cited as supporting these claims. However, a closer look at this data on crimes against SCs and STs, including the rates of crimes, court convictions and pendency, shows that these popular claims are not based on the evidence that the data provides. Further, a scrutiny of the claims itself reveals serious conceptual problems, fallacies, and errors. This article, while analyzing the currently available data on crimes against SCs and STs, also traces the source of the problems that have marred their understanding and interpretation. We specifically look at the evolution of the word ‘atrocity’ in the context of caste, how the term acquired a strange definition, how it came to mediate the understanding of caste violence and the collection of crime statistics, and how its usage is incredibly loaded to prove the point that there is excessive violence against SCs and STs. https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1484atrocitycaste violenceconcept creepthe atrocity approachdalit |
| spellingShingle | Nihar Sashittal The enigma of caste atrocities Oñati Socio-Legal Series atrocity caste violence concept creep the atrocity approach dalit |
| title | The enigma of caste atrocities |
| title_full | The enigma of caste atrocities |
| title_fullStr | The enigma of caste atrocities |
| title_full_unstemmed | The enigma of caste atrocities |
| title_short | The enigma of caste atrocities |
| title_sort | enigma of caste atrocities |
| topic | atrocity caste violence concept creep the atrocity approach dalit |
| url | https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1484 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT niharsashittal theenigmaofcasteatrocities AT niharsashittal enigmaofcasteatrocities |