Ramnika Gupta sits upright in her little office in Delhi, editing, proofreading, and deciding which Dalit and Adivasi writers need to find space in the forthcoming issue of Yudhrat Aam Aadmi, a monthly magazine she set up in 1987. The stories in the August issue of the magazine capture the daily trials of being a Dalit in India. There is Rajjo in Chot by Surajpal Chauhan, a young and beautiful Dalit widow, confined to the job of a safai karamchari and denied her late husband’s chaprasi job because those in authority would rather she does the “cleaning”. There is Bholu in Neera Parmar’s Mehak, who is caught stealing flowers for his grandmother’s funeral and is thrashed soundly by policemen.
The stories are contemporary, but they are also timeless. Sixty-six years after the abolition of untouchability, these chronicles of discrimination and oppression continue to find resonance in modern India. Stories such as Sarvajanik Maafi by Abhay Kumar or Haan, Yeh Sach Hai by Mohandas Raimishray document the oppression that refuses to go away. So, the recent cow vigilante violence and also the Dalit pushback can both be found in the stories of Dalit writers.
The current issue includes stories by nine Dalit and eight tribal authors. Gupta’s range as a translator is wide, with stories in Malayalam, Santhali, Odiya, Nagpuriya and Adivasi dialects, all translated into Hindi. Of the nearly 600 tribal languages that exist in India, Gupta has been able to document about 90. “Several Adivasi languages rely only on the oral tradition. I make it my business to try and make it accessible to others and get it written down so others can benefit and it can be shared,” she says.
A former legislator from Bihar, Gupta was born in Punjab to a senior army officer. In her 86-year-old journey, she has worn many hats. She has been with the Congress before she turned to socialism and communism. It was in Bihar, where she moved nearly 50 years ago, after falling in love and marrying outside her caste, that she first interacted closely with Adivasis and Dalits who worked in the mining industry. The exploitation she saw at close quarters helped her discover her politics. An activist, she went on to become a MLA, but gradually, she realised that her calling lay elsewhere. Over the years, Gupta says, she had noticed that mainstream media gave little or no space to stories of displacement and exploitation. So, she decided to set up a literary magazine with a special focus on Dalit and Adivasi writing three decades ago.
But do all stories of Dalits and Adivasis have to come only from them? Can only the disadvantaged write about the disadvantaged? These are some of the questions that Gupta has faced. Her answer has been an unwavering yes. “They have borne the burden, carried maila on their heads, they have had their lives and habitats snatched from them. So they know best what it feels like. That others write about it is also important, it is empathetic but it is different from first-hand accounts,” says Gupta.
The All India Tribal Literary Forum (AITLF), which she runs, is one of the few forums for showcasing and integrating tribal experiences in “regular” literature. In 2002, the Sahitya Akademi alongwith AITLF organised the first big Adivasi Literary Conference in India after which several universities abroad began courses in the subject.
Much of Gupta’s compilations of Dalit and Adivasi poetry is now part of the syllabi at universities that have introduced courses in Adivasi and Dalit literature. Laura Brueck, chair, department of Asian Languages and Cultures in Northwestern University, US, calls Gupta “an important thread of India’s history” that ties the government at the Centre and “the most abject of workers at the periphery.”
Sixty-six years after the abolition of untouchability, these chronicles of discrimination and oppression continue to find resonance in modern India. One woman has started a publication where Dalits and other minorities have the opportunity to voice their opinions. But do all stories of Dalits and Adivasis have to come only from them? Can only the disadvantaged write about the disadvantaged? These are some of the questions that Gupta has faced. The Indian Express
Link to Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/their-lives-matter/
The National Campaign Against Torture (NCAT) in its “India: Annual Report on Torture 2019” released on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture stated that a total of 1,731 persons died in custody during 2019 i.e. deaths of about five persons daily. These included 1,606 deaths in judicial custody and 125 deaths in police custody.
Torture is perpetrated to extract confession or bribes and torture methods used in 2019 included hammering iron nails in the body (Bihar), applying roller on legs and burning (Jammu & Kashmir), ‘falanga’ wherein the soles of the feet are beaten (Kerala), stretching legs apart in opposite side (Kerala), hitting in private parts (Haryana), electric shock (Punjab and Uttar Pradesh), pouring petrol in private parts (Uttar Pradesh), applying chilly power in private parts (Kerala) beating while being hand-cuffed (Kerala), pricking needle into body (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), branding with hot iron rod (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), beating after stripping (Haryana and Assam), urinating in mouth (Uttar Pradesh), inserting hard blunt object into anus (Bihar), beating after hanging upside down with hands and legs tied (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), forcing to perform oral sex (Gujarat), pressing finger nails with pliers (Assam), beating with iron rods after victim is suspended between two tables with both hands and legs tied (Madhya Pradesh), forced to do Murga pose or stress position (Haryana), and kicking in belly of pregnant woman (Assam).
Indian police officers in the town of Nagina chased a group of Muslim teenagers into an empty house. They grabbed them and took them to a makeshift jail. And then, the boys and community leaders said, the officers tortured them.
Four of the boys, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, said that police officers used wooden canes to beat them and threatened to kill them.
Indian Police officers over the course of 30 hours terrorized them.
According to two of the boys, the officers laughed during beatings, saying, “You will die in this prison.”
More accounts are emerging of abuse meted out by police officers.
Almost all the violence has been directed toward Muslim residents. More people — at least 19 — have been killed!
Witnesses said that police officers opened fire on demonstrators with live ammunition, broke into houses and stole money, and threatened to rape women.
Police officers were encouraged by their superiors to kill protesters.
The Indian police have become a lynch mob! Inidan police officers having been given the green light by senior officials to use harsh measures against Muslims.
A 20-year-old Dalit man was allegedly burnt alive over his relationship with a woman from another caste, the killing causing his mother to die of shock.
The victim was beaten up, kept hostage in a house and set ablaze.
Locals rushed to the spot on hearing his cries and took him to a local hospital. He was referred to a Lucknow hospital but succumbed to injuries on the way.
India : Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Telangana2018-09-20
A father attacked his 20-year-old daughter and her newlywed husband in the heart of the city on Wednesday, chopping off her left forearm and slashing her jaw. The incident comes days after a Dalit youth was mercilessly murdered in front his pregnant wife in Nalgonda district.
Police said the father was upset over the inter-caste marriage — the woman an OBC (Other Backward Class), her husband, B Sandeep (22), a Dalit. Sandeep and Madhavi Chary, in a relationship for five years, secretly got married on September 12, despite stiff opposition from her father.
Madhavi was left with a 12-inch gash on her neck and jawline and her left forearm barely hung by the skin. She was in a 10-hour surgery at the time of going to print. Sandeep, in another hospital, received 10 stitches to close the deep wound at the angle of his mouth; the attending doctors said he was in deep shock.
