The main purpose of this article is not only to publicize the gross human rights violations against India’s 250-300 million untouchables (now known as Dalits), but also to create international awareness and to seek international support for the plight of the Dalits in India. It is evident that the Afro-Americans suffered slavery for some centuries. The Jews suffered holocaust and martyrdom for some time, but Dalits have been suffering humiliation, loss of respect, dignity, culture and above all, unspeakable horror of the caste system for the last three thousand years of human history. The world communities must assume responsibility in bringing total justice to the Dalits who have been systematically deprived of their respect, dignity, culture and rights by the upper caste people of India. What is amazing that even after 55 years of India’s independence, and as India is signatory to many international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention on the “Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” and even though untouchables was abolished by India’s constitution in 1950, there is no difference in the lives of India’s Dalits as their fundamental human rights are violated on a daily basis. India has been called the “world’s largest democracy.” It’s merely “A democracy of the few for the few and by the few” and is probably the largest violators of human right acts in human history. What is worse to notice is that untouchables cannot fetch a bucket of water from the village well or socialize in village tea stalls or cafes, as their touch pollutes everything.
The caste hierarchy has excluded these people from the caste system and therefore, they are “outcaste.” For decades and until today, they have been barred from sharing water, food and shelter and are forced to live in ghettos, and hence are referred as “segregated.” They have been socially, culturally, and politically subjugated and marginalized through three thousand years of India’s history.
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Post Contributed By:
Ashish Ransom
Indian Institute of Legal studies
