'...That was obvious from a speech steeped in caste supremacy made by Kerala High Court judge V Chitambaresh at an event organised by an association of Tamil Brahmins in Kochi on July 19. Explaining his concept of the ideal Brahmin, Justice Chitambaresh said: “Who is a Brahmin? A Brahmin is twice born, because of his poorva janma sukratham [good deeds of his past life]. He has got certain distinct characteristics, clean habits, lofty thinking, sterling character, mostly vegetarian, a love of Carnatic music.
'A Dalit man was allegedly hacked to death by his upper-caste wife’s relatives in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district on Monday night, PTI reported. Eight men, including his father-in-law, have been booked for murder and are on the run. The murder took place in the presence of officials from state-run women helpline Abhayam. Haresh Solanki had sought the helpline’s assistance to bring his wife Urmila back from her parents’ house to his home in Kutch district, The Indian Express reported...'
'On May 22, Dr Payal Tadvi, a 26-year-old oppressed caste Muslim gynaecologist, died by suicide in Mumbai. Earlier that day, she had apparently performed two surgeries and spoken to her mother on the phone. For months leading up to her death, she had told her family that she was being harassed by three “upper” caste women doctors. They allegedly went to the toilet and then wiped their feet on her bed, called her casteist slurs, made fun of her for being a tribal on WhatsApp groups and threatened to not allow her to enter operation theatres or perform deliveries.
'Election results decoded: The last decade has seen the return of the upper castes and the erosion of OBC representation... What does the new Lok Sabha look like in terms of its caste composition? We are responding to this question using data that a team of researchers from the Trivedi Center for Political Data (Ashoka University) and the CERI (Sciences Po) have collected, coded and compiled in the framework of the SPINPER project – The Social Profile of the Indian National and Provincial Elected Representatives.
'A Mumbai-based doctor who was arrested for allegedly posting “anti-Hindu” comments on Facebook was granted bail on Thursday, The Indian Express reported. Sunilkumar Nishad claimed his posts did not criticise any religion. According to ANI, a resident had complained that Nishad had made derogatory remarks about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur as well as anti-Hindu and anti-Brahminical comments. Nishad was arrested on Wednesday. “I don’t even know who the complainant is,” Nishad told The Indian Express.
'Thousands of people—students, workers and activists belonging to Dalit, OBC and Tribal organisations along with workers of opposition parties—took to the streets in Bihar on 5 March as part of the bandh (shutdown) against the BJP’s anti-Dalit and anti-Adivasi policies.
'A dalit professor from Lucknow has faced the ire of the Rajya Karamchari Sahitya Sansthan (State Employees’ Literary Association) for a Facebook post criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A large number of people including students from all walks of the society came forward to protest against this on the streets of Lucknow streets on Sunday evening (March 10).
'While crimes against SCs registered an increase of 32 per cent, the crimes against STs increased by 55 per cent in the period between 2013 to 2017... Despite higher number of criminal cases committed against the marginalised sections of the society, the state authorities have failed in bringing the culprits to the book. The data furnished by vigilance and monitoring committee of social justice and empowerment suggest that the state has miserably lagged as far as the conviction rate is concerned. The state registered a 3.78 per cent conviction rate in 2017 and 2018...'
'Several cases were raised in the Assembly, exposing BJP’s anti-dalit attitude in the state... An RTI activist and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Kedar Singh Jindan of Bakras village of Sirmaur district was brutally murdered on September 7, 2018, reportedly by upper caste people of the area, by crushing him under a Scorpio Jeep. Jindan, an advocate by profession, had exposed through several RTI petitions, the alleged loot of certain upper caste people who had denied the benefits of government schemes meant for weaker sections of the society.
'On July 16, 2016, seven people belonging to a dalit family were flogged in public in Una, Gujarat. The incident was videotaped and circulated by men belonging to upper caste. The trial of the case that had begun more than two years later in August 2018, now stands the risk of witnesses turning hostile. Dipendra Yadav, the Public Prosecutor in the case has been repeatedly writing to concerned authorities demanding an office for himself to prepare the witnesses, and security for witnesses but in vain.
