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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SC slams tribal torture by Samanwaya Rautray

SC slams tribal torture by Samanwaya Rautray

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published Published on Jan 6, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 6, 2011

The Supreme Court has condemned the stripping and parading of a tribal woman by four upper-caste men 17 years ago, citing it as an example of how tribals are systemically ill-treated and “marginalised” in India.

The accused had dismissed the evidence of the victim’s torn clothes claiming that she and other Bhils were poor and usually wore tattered clothes.

“This itself shows the mentality of the accused who regard tribal people as inferior or sub-human. This is totally unacceptable in modern India,” the bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyansudha Mishra said, calling the injustice done to tribals a “shameful chapter” in India’s history.

It said the accused deserved harsher punishment than the one-year terms they got for parading the then 25-year-old, pregnant victim naked in her village in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. The victim had been attacked ostensibly because of her relationship with a higher caste man, who had got her pregnant for a second time.

“Instances like this deserve total condemnation and harsh punishment. We are surprised that the state government did not file any appeal for enhancement of the punishment,” the bench said.

It added: “Despite the horrible oppression on them, the tribals have generally retained a higher level of ethics than non-tribals. They normally do not cheat, tell lies or do many misdeeds that many non-tribals do…. It is time now to undo the historical injustice to them.”

The tribals “were probably the descendants of the original inhabitants of India” but now “constitute only 8 per cent of our total population and... are characterised as one of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities... characterised by high level of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, disease and landlessness”, the court noted.

It said it was the “duty of all people who love the country to see that no harm is done to STs and that they are given all help to bring them up in their economic and social status, since they have been victimised for thousands of years by terrible oppression and atrocities”.

The court described how tribals have been called rakshashas and asurassince ancient times and slaughtered, and how their descendants were degraded and humiliated for centuries. They were deprived of their land and pushed into forests and hills where they lived a miserable existence.

“And now efforts were being made by some people to deprive them of their forest and hill land... and the forest produce on which they survive,” the court said.

It referred to the Mahabharat and Dronacharya’s “shameful act” of demanding tribal archer Ekalavya’s right thumb as his teacher’s fees to prevent him from challenging his favourite pupil Arjuna.

After the May 1994 attack on the Bhil woman, the accused were convicted in February 1998 of outraging her modesty, causing hurt and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The sentences being concurrent, they had just to serve a year in jail and pay a nominal fine.

Hearing the convicts’ appeal, the high court set aside the conviction under the SC/ST act on the technical ground that a caste certificate had not been produced. The other convictions were upheld and the fines increased to Rs 5,000.

When the accused moved the Supreme Court against the convictions, the top court said they deserved heavier punishment and dismissed their appeal.


The Telegraph, 6 January, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110106/jsp/nation/story_13398862.jsp


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