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Denied a chair, Dalit women confront discrimination on Indian village councils

Denied a chair, Dalit women confront discrimination on Indian village councils

WHEN Priya Periyasamy was elected to lead her village council in southern India a year ago, her parents warned that she would face hostility as a low-caste Dalit woman, but nothing prepared her for the constant abuse she receives. Periyasamy is among at least 16 women village council leaders in Tamil Nadu state who have filed complaints in the last six months over discrimination for being Dalits - considered India's lowest caste in an ancient social hierarchy. "Since I was elected, other members of the council wouldn't even greet me," Periyasamy, 24, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from…
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India’s low-caste women raped to keep them ‘in their place’

India’s low-caste women raped to keep them ‘in their place’

ANURADHA NAGARAJ LOWER-caste Dalit women in northern India are targeted for rape by upper caste men who usually escape justice as survivors bow to pressure to drop their cases, researchers have found. Only 10% of 40 rape cases involving Dalit women and girls in Haryana state ended with the conviction of all those charged, and these involved murders or victims under the age of six, found two rights groups, Equality Now and the Swabhiman Society. In almost 60% of cases, the survivor withdrew her case and accepted a "compromise" settlement outside the legal system, usually after unofficial village councils, or…
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