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Justice and Human Rights at the Grassroots Level: Judicial Empowerment in Dalit Activism

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Law and Democracy in Contemporary India

Part of the book series: Human Rights Interventions ((HURIIN))

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Abstract

Suzuki examines the current sociopolitical dynamics of caste, based on justice and human rights, with regard to judicial empowerment in Dalit community in contemporary India. With an increase in the educational, economic, and political empowerment of the Dalits, they have risen to challenge existing policies and demand an equal share in state resources. The results of Suzuki's fieldwork show that while most people tried to keep their caste hidden, a number of them asserted their caste in order to obtain benefits from welfare schemes (reservation policies in particular) and to protect their rights by approaching the judicial system through public interest litigations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Menski (2016) for further discussion on the relationship of caste-related discourse and the notion of justice as a globally diverse phenomenon.

  2. 2.

    While Balmiki is observed as a “passive community” that does not have its own movement (Pai and Singh 1997), the activism of other lower castes in sociopolitical arenas has been drawing scholarly attention since the early 1980s (Doron 2008; Jaffrelot 2003; Narayan 2001).

  3. 3.

    See Prashad (2000) for Balmiki caste associations before independence, from the late nineteenth century to the 1930s. Most of them had been established under the leadership of Hindu social reform movements, such as the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha.

  4. 4.

    Mazhabis were a part of the Chuhra community before they converted to Sikhism.

  5. 5.

    The abovementioned politicians were acquitted of the charges in the JMM bribe case in 2002.

  6. 6.

    Interview with the AISMC representative member, B.K. Mahar, on July 27, 2010.

  7. 7.

    In this paper, the terms “Balmiki ” and “Valmiki” are used almost interchangeably as community names. They are derived from worshipping the Sanskrit “Bhagwan Valmik,” known as a legendary saint and composer of the epic Ramayana.

  8. 8.

    An NGO, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), established in 1989, provides a national platform for lawyers and social activists with training programs and publication of human rights and judicial systems. See Agrawal and Gonsalves (2005) for the legal information relevant to the civil and human rights of Dalits.

  9. 9.

    See the PIL guideline at http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/pdf/Guidelines/pilguidelines.pdf (accessed on December 22, 2017).

  10. 10.

    Information about PIL cases relies on the authors’ field notes from 2006 onward. Also, see a journalist’s work (Singh 2014) on SKA.

  11. 11.

    Interview with Bezwada Wilson on February 6, 2006.

  12. 12.

    Paul Diwakar is the general secretary of an international NGO, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR). The late S.R. Sankaran was an activist, who retired from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as an officer.

  13. 13.

    Interview with O.P. Shukla on August 29, 2012.

  14. 14.

    Interview with O.P. Shukla on August 29, 2012.

  15. 15.

    Writ Petition (Civil) 337 of 2011.

  16. 16.

    The latest petition has just been reported as being filed by the Supreme Court to exclude the affluent members (known as the “creamy layer”) of the SCs and STs from the benefits of reservation. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/plea-to-exclude-scst-creamy-layer-from-quota/article22544974.ece?homepage=true (accessed on January 31, 2018).

  17. 17.

    Interview with O.P. Shukla on August 25, 2017.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26283006, JP16K16659.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (National Institute for the Humanities), Tokyo, Japan

    Maya Suzuki

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan

    Tatsuya Yamamoto

  2. Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomoaki Ueda

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Suzuki, M. (2019). Justice and Human Rights at the Grassroots Level: Judicial Empowerment in Dalit Activism. In: Yamamoto, T., Ueda, T. (eds) Law and Democracy in Contemporary India. Human Rights Interventions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95837-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95837-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95836-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95837-8

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