By Sunidhi Gupta

Abstract

This article aims to provide a condensed overview of the pivotal role that institutional bias plays in perpetuating atrocities against Dalit women in societies with deeply entrenched caste-based hierarchies. The study delves into the complex web of discrimination, violence, and systemic inequalities faced by Dalit women, highlighting the need for comprehensive analysis and intervention. Dalit women, situated at the intersection of caste and gender, are subjected to a unique set of challenges stemming from centuries-old discriminatory practices and social hierarchies. Institutional bias, deeply embedded in legal, social, economic, and cultural structures, further exacerbates their vulnerability.

Institutional bias is the practice of discrimination at the institutional level of analysis, based on systems that transcend personal prejudice and bigotry. It would be simple to draw the incorrect conclusion that eliminating people’s negative associations, stereotypes, and prejudices toward that outgroup would end discrimination, but even in ideal circumstances, discrimination may still occur. That situation exemplifies institutional prejudice perniciously, where it is difficult to place the responsibility for unfair treatment on any particular person. Institutional bias is one of the least known intergroup interactions by social scientists and is mostly unexplored by theoretical frameworks, especially in social psychology.

The essence of the definition comes from what was explained as Institutional Racism by Jones and is modified to include more kinds of social groups established that exist in laws, conventions, and routines that consistently suffer group-based injustices reflected in and caused to them in any culture. This institutional bias operates in groups with similar interests and legitimizing ideologies. This phenomenon has been held in various cases of violation of human rights in India which were based on communal as well as caste issues and what Dalit women face is an intersection of caste and gender with no safeguard from the administration. 

Atrocities on Dalit women re-emphasize the inequality that exists in society based on caste and gender.  The report published in the state of Tamil Nadu analyzed the number of obstacles that Dalit women face while accessing justice and judicial redressals.  These obstacles imply how society legitimizes such acts and absolves the perpetrators. The report of Tamil Nadu also states that in most cases, the police are biased when the perpetrators belong to the dominant caste, and in cases of violence against a gender or caste, the judiciary often fails to deliver justice. A report by the National Tribunal on Violence against Dalit Women in 2013, stated that the criminal justice system has to look urgently into matters that cater to Dalit women and the atrocities they face. In such cases, the role of human rights lawyers to fight against institutional biases becomes extremely important as they strategize ways out of these loopholes to get justice. Even after such reports and requests the quest for justice and such incidents haven’t stopped. 

One such incident was the Hathras Gang-rape incident which took place on 14^th September 2020 in Bulgarhi village where the victim was dragged to a farmland belonging to the accused family. She was raped and left uncovered, wounded, and bleeding on the ground, she was found by her mother. The victim’s family was aware that the culprits were their neighbours, the Thakur family, who belonged to the upper caste. The details of what the victim went through during her treatment and her quest for justice are covered in the fact-finding report released by the National Alliance of People’s Movement. The alleged accused who belonged to a Brahmin family and the neighbour of the victim’s family had a feud with them over land but no attacks were done from either side in the recent years and this was uncalled for. The worst part of all was the institutional, administrative as well as the investigative route taken after this heinous incident. The district hospital where the victim was taken had an uncooperative staff and the victim was in pain and discomfort for the longest time. There was no examination done related to sexual assault and her family was not asked about the details of the incident till she gave her own statement. Moreover, the functioning of the police, in this case, was suspicious and worth being questioned. They went ahead to get rid of the victim’s body by burning it. The State justified its actions by saying that it did not want to cause violence between people from different castes which is as unbelievable as it can be. This is how the pressure and institutional bias works from the side of the State. The lack of repentance as well as response to such serious crimes is proof of how they want to suppress such matters rather than deal with them.

This is only one such instance among many other cases reported by the press, the local and national nongovernmental women’s rights organizations, the National Commission for Women of India, and other organizations. They demonstrate a pattern of impunity in attacks against women that is consistent with our findings. All the attacks on women that were the subject of this report’s documentation include state or private actors who got away the majority of the time with neither an investigation nor a prosecution taking place against them. The predicament of Dalit women has also gone unnoticed by various political groups up until recently. According to Ruth Manorama, president of the recently formed National Federation for Dalit Women, Dalit women are the least privileged in our society. Dalit issues have not received substantial consideration within the women’s movement either.. It’s important to consider the intersection of gender, class, and caste all at once. Dalit women have added to this conversation. Women’s labour, already undervalued, is worthless when they are Dalits. Additionally, the horrors are far more obscene.

Author’s Bio

Sunidhi Gupta is a student at Jindal Global Law School in her third year of BA. LLB (Hons.)

Image Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54418513