(This was first published on 9 October 2020 in connection with the Hathras rape case. It has been republished from The Quint's archives in light of alleged rape and forced cremation of a Dalit minor in Delhi.)
The brutal rape of the Hathras victim and her consequent death has once again brought out the inadequate understanding of social reality within Indian feminism. While Dalit movements and anti-caste activists have been condemning the inaction of the police, the failure and complicity of the State, the political nexus that protects the Thakur perpetrators, there was another painful and exhausting discourse emerging among prominent feminists, journalists and the social media – ‘don't bring caste into the issue and politicise it’.
True, gender-based sexual violences are committed against women of all castes.
However, looking at the Hathras case as solely gender-based, wilfully and violently erases the caste underpinnings of the crime and social reality.