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…
