A Victory for Dignity: Ending caste-based violence

A Victory for Dignity is a graphic story that imagines an all-too-rare but deeply necessary outcome: justice for victims of caste-based violence through the effective use of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The story was published on April 14, 2024, by the Alternative Law Forum, a law collective. It aims at educating the Dalit community about their rights under the 1989 law and to encourage them to approach the law without fear.

The story, set in a fictional South Indian village called Nelebaalu, shows a community deeply divided along caste lines. The main source of livelihood in the area is a lake, and the story revolves around upcoming government fishing tenders. The situation in the village heats up when Anjanappa, a Dalit man, applies for the tender, angering the upper-caste leader Shivaramaiah, who is in competition for the same tender.

Shivaramaiah and other upper-caste men resort to threatening Anjanappa and ostracizing his family. Within just a few days, the situation spirals as Anjanappa is badly beaten by Shivaramaiah and his goons. His wife, Saroja, who was already nervous about standing against the upper-caste leaders, unravels under the pressure.

The turning point comes not through heroics, but through knowledge. Saroja, encouraged by the local schoolteacher, also a Dalit who relied on the law to keep her job, files a complaint using the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and refuses to give in to intimidation and bribery. 

The story concludes positively, with Saroja and her family supported by the authorities with empathy at every step and Shivaramaiah and his lackeys getting hefty jail times and fines. The story booklet also includes printable posters and educational material, reinforcing its purpose as a community resource.

However, the authors note, the law is only as strong as its implementation, and it would be useful to understand the need for the graphic story in the first place.

In 2021, the Supreme Court of India itself noted that caste atrocities often go unreported, because of fear of retribution, lack of awareness of the law, and police apathy. At the same time, crimes and discrimination against SC/STs continue to rise. A study conducted by the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network, along with the Human Rights Law Network and National Council of Women Leaders, uncovered that crimes against Scheduled Caste communities rose by 177.6 per cent and crimes against Scheduled Tribe communities rose by 111.2 per cent between 1991 and 2021.

Focus by Bhavna Jamwal.