A glimpse of the Dalit experience in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit girl was brutally gang-raped by upper caste men:

1. A Dalit child (parents in pic), accidentally touched the food item of a Thakur child while playing. A group of about thirty Thakur men gathered outside their house, with sticks. They believed that their food had been polluted by the touch of a lower caste.

2. A Dalit woman says that when they are invited to functions at Thakur households to eat leftover food, they are made to sit in a dirty corner. "They drop the food from a height, so as to not come in contact with us. The food falls on the floor sometimes. For them, we're dirty."

3. Dalit mother: “My younger son Sunny was just sitting somewhere in the village when Thakur boys came and beat him up. They said only upper caste members can sit there. They were angry that he, an untouchable, dared to sit there.”

4. This man's brother's finger was cut off two decades back for daring to speak up against Thakurs: when the brother objected to Thakurs' cattle entering the Dalit's farms and destroying crops. He is still living in the trauma and wishes he could just leave the village.

5. “Once, I accidentally touched a Thakur man. He made a fuss, called me a Bhangi and Chamar (another Dalit caste, also used as a pejorative term). He said he was polluted and immediately went to ‘purify’ himself. But this is normal… after all, we are lower caste people.”

Please remember, Dalit families now are apprehensive of the attention that the #HathrasCase has received in the media and among political parties. The family of the victim fear that they will continue to be a target for the upper caste villagers and face their wrath.

“Our daughter’s rape has laid bare the caste inequality and the discrimination that the Thakurs practice in this village. Because of this, we are not safe. We must be given security, or we will have to leave this village for good,” says the victim’s father.

Full article on @thewire_in: https://m.thewire.in/article/caste/hathras-rape-victim-boolgarhi-village-caste-discrimination-everyday-reality-thakur-dalit?utm=authorpage