Speak: The truth is Still Alive – Land, Caste and Sexual Violence Against Dalit Girls and Women in Haryana – Report.

Abstract

This report is an attempt to expose and understand the ongoing onslaught of sexual violence against Dalit girls and women in the state of Haryana, and an acknowledgement of the movement against these atrocities. The relentless succession of rapes, gang rapes, murders and sexual assaults has escalated in recent years to a point where official attempts to dismiss them as “isolated incidents” seem ridiculous and callous. This report provides evidence of the interlinked operation of caste, patriarchy and neo-liberal policies, each of them steeped in violence. The economic and cultural transformation triggered by the neo-liberal boom in Haryana has created new avenues for violence against Dalit women, located as they are at the confluence of multiple systems of marginalisation and oppression.