The enigma of caste atrocities

Do scheduled castes and scheduled tribes face excessive violence in India?

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1332

Palabras clave:

dalit, atrocidad, violencia de casta, fluencia del concepto, enfoque de atrocidad

Resumen

La narrativa dominante sobre las castas hoy en día afirma que las personas pertenecientes a las castas registradas o “dalits” y a las tribus registradas o “tribales” se enfrentan a una violencia generalizada y desproporcionadamente mayor. La situación se considera aún más acentuada por el supuesto “sesgo de casta” contra estas comunidades en la policía y el poder judicial. Las estrictas disposiciones legales aprobadas por el Parlamento indio, específicamente para abordar los delitos contra estas comunidades, se han presentado como ineficaces o insuficientes para frenar esta violencia. A menudo se citan las estadísticas oficiales sobre la delincuencia para respaldar estas afirmaciones. Sin embargo, un examen más detallado de estos datos sobre los delitos contra las castas y las tribus desfavorecidas, incluidos los índices de delitos, las condenas judiciales y los casos pendientes, muestra que estas afirmaciones populares no se basan en las pruebas que ofrecen los datos. Además, un examen de las propias afirmaciones revela graves problemas conceptuales, falacias y errores. Este artículo, al tiempo que analiza los datos actualmente disponibles sobre los delitos contra las castas y las tribus desfavorecidas, también rastrea el origen de los problemas que han empañado su comprensión e interpretación. En concreto, examinamos la evolución de la palabra “atrocidad” en el contexto de las castas, cómo el término adquirió una definición extraña, cómo llegó a mediar en la comprensión de la violencia de las castas y en la recopilación de estadísticas sobre delitos, y cómo su uso está increíblemente cargado para demostrar que existe una violencia excesiva contra las castas y las tribus desfavorecidas.

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Biografía del autor/a

Nihar Sashittal

Nihar Sashittal is a researcher with interest in data science and policy. He has authored several articles published in media platforms such as Financial Express. Email address: nihar.sashittal@gmail.com

Citas

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Publicado

2022-12-09 — Actualizado el 2023-02-01

Cómo citar

Sashittal, N. (2023) «The enigma of caste atrocities: Do scheduled castes and scheduled tribes face excessive violence in India?», Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 13(1), pp. 89–126. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1332.