12-Year-Old Dalit Rape Survivor Gets Rs. 600 Pension as ‘Justice’
Does Compensation Depend on Victims’ Social Status?
Newsreel Asia Insight #26
Oct. 27, 2023
Recently, a young girl in tattered clothes knocked on doors in Madhya Pradesh state’s Ujjain district, seeking help after a horrific rape. She’s home now, but what she and her family have gotten from the government suggests victims who are poor and/or Dalits receive a form of “justice” that corresponds with their perceived social standing.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called the incident a deep wound to the state, promising help. An accused has been arrested. But so far, there’s not much to show for it. Not a single government official has even visited the girl’s family, who live in a basic hut just 20 kilometres from a major district office, NDTV India reported on Oct. 24.
The girl and her family face discrimination daily in their own village. Why? They belong to a Scheduled Caste, according to the report, which quotes her brother as saying that their low social status makes them invisible to the authorities.
Numbers tell the same story; crimes against Dalits like them are sky-high in Madhya Pradesh. In 2021 alone, over 7,000 crimes against Dalits were reported in the state – that’s nearly 20 a day.
As for help, the family got a one-time offer of 1,500 rupees for groceries from a local politician. From the government? A monthly pension of just 600 rupees, according to NDTV India. That’s hardly enough to meet any basic needs, let alone help the family heal.
You might ask, isn’t the government supposed to help victims? Absolutely. In September 2018, the Supreme Court mandated that rape survivors receive a minimum compensation of 400,000 rupees, directing all states to implement this ruling within one month.
In November 2022, the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum in Haryana state mandated that the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram provide an interim compensation of 200,000 rupees to a woman who sustained injuries following an attack by a pet dog, as reported by NDTV.
The provision for compensation is intended to ensure “restorative justice,” a fancy term that means helping victims get their life back on track, including some financial help. Human rights laws also say victims should get effective remedies.
People generally agree that it’s the State’s moral duty to help those hurt by crimes it couldn’t stop. Money can also act as a kind of warning, showing how serious the State is about stopping these crimes. And let’s not forget, this aid can help the victim rebuild her life.
Public opinion says the government should step in, especially when the victim faces financial stress due to medical bills or loss of work. In places where women are often treated as less than men, this kind of help is also a step towards equality.
But here, that monthly pension of 600 rupees feels like a slap in the face of her family. It’s a tiny drop in a big bucket of problems. What can those 600 rupees actually buy? A few kilograms of rice and lentils, perhaps a couple of notebooks, but certainly not justice. Definitely not the sort of profound societal change that could prevent another girl from facing the survivor’s fate.
It tells this family, and others like them, that their tragedies are minor footnotes in the government’s ledger of responsibilities.
In the Chief Minister’s own words, the incident harmed the soul of the state. If that’s true, shouldn’t the State be doing more to heal that soul, starting with real help for this young survivor and her family?
