Anatomy of Caste Violence: The Question of Dignity, Honour and Justice in India

The Constitution of India prescribes provisions to safeguard the lives of the Scheduled Castes. Special Acts address the existing challenges related to discriminatory practices and brutal violence against them by the dominant communities. The protective legislations have however seldom acted to restrain increasing display of cruelty against the historically marginalised. Mundane normalised violence compels them to question the authority of caste and functioning of the legal system in India. The persistence of caste-based violence highlights the inability of state and bureaucracy to create an order in society. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the nature of the social system, causes of violence against Dalits and the working of administrative and judicial machinery. This paper highlights a detailed analysis of caste violence occurred in 2006 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It examines the usage of violence by the upper caste to maintain and re-produce the caste-based social order.