When was untouchability abolished in india

When a person who is convicted of an offence under Section 6, holds any licence under any law for the time being in force in respect of any profession, trade, calling or employment in relation to which the offence is committed, the court trying the offence may, without prejudice to any other penalty to which such person may be liable under that section, direct that the licence shall stand cancelled or to be suspended for such period, as the Court may deem fit, and every order of the Court so cancelling or suspending a licence shall have effect as if it had been passed by the authority competent to cancel or suspend the licence under any such law;.

Where the manager or trustee of a place of public worship or any educational institution 27 or hostel which is in respect of a grant of land or money from the Government is convicted of an offence under this Act and such conviction is not reversed or quased in any appeal or revision, the Government may, if in its opinion the circumstances of the case warrant such a Course, direct the suspension or resumption of the whole or any part of such grant.

Whoever abets any offence under this Act shall, be punishable with the punishment provided for the offence. Provided that the fine apportioned to an inhabitant shall not be realised until the petition, if any, filed by him under sub-section 3 is disposed of. Provided that the amount of the fine exempted or reduced under this section shall not be realisable from any person, and the total fine imposed on the inhabitants of an area under sub-section 1 shall be deemed to have been reduced to that extent.

Whoever having already been convicted of an offence under this Act or of an abetment of such offence is again convicted of any such offence or abetment, 30 shall, on conviction, be punishable-. Where any act constituting an offence under this Act is committed in relation to a member of a Scheduled Caste 31 xx, the Court shall presume, unless the contrary is proved, that such Act was committed on the ground of "untouchability".

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such, person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

The provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, , 20 of shall not apply to any person above the age of fourteen years who is found guilty of having committed any offence punishable under this Act. The enactments specified in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent to which they or any of the provisions contained therein correspond or are repugnant to this Act or to any of the provision contained therein.

Union of India. While that is not accurate, it is argued that the British did reinforce the caste system in India. As Galanter notes:. Caste groups did enjoy active support of the courts in upholding their claims for precedence and exclusiveness. Courts granted injunctions to restrain members of particular castes from entering temples—even ones that were publicly supported and dedicated to the entire Hindu community.

Damages were awarded for purificatory ceremonies necessitated by the pollution caused by the presence of lower castes; such pollution was actionable as a trespass on the person of the higher caste worshippers.

It was a criminal offence for a member of an excluded caste knowingly to pollute a temple by his presence. As late as , Nair users of a public temple were granted damages for pollution for the purificatory ceremonies necessitated by Ezhavas bathing in the tanks.

Vijay Prashad notes that in the s, members of the untouchable communities of Chuhra, Bhangi and Mehtar now known as Balmikis joined the chamar community in escaping caste oppression by converting, fleeing bonded labour and forming political associations. The union of untouchables in opposition to the Congress plagued elite Indian nationalists. How could they represent themselves as a nation when a major segment of the population would not support them?

The Resolution was a dead letter. Nothing came out of it. Legal measures have been taken to eradicate the practice of untouchability. But Thorat and Joshi have noted that:.

Although the practice of untouchability has been constitutionally banned since the passage of the Untouchability Offences Act of , it continues in certain forms not only in private social interactions, but also in the public sector.

The primary unit of society is caste. There is no room for individual merit and the consideration of individual justice. Any rights that an individual has, are not due to him personally; it is due to him because he belongs to a particular caste.

Untouchables are considered as inferior social beings and therefore not entitled to any individual rights, i e, civic, religious, political and economic. In a society that continues to be ordered by a caste-based system, would it be possible to eradicate the practice of untouchability?

Despite it being more than half a century since the anti-untouchability law came into existence, how is the practice still prevalent?

In , Galanter acknowledged the difference between the existence of a law and the reality in practice. There is, of course, no exact correspondence between this higher law and the behaviour that it purports to regulate, nor even with the day-to-day operations of the magistrates, officials, lawyers and police who staff the lower levels of the legal system.

This Act enacted punishment for government officials neglecting their duties under the Act. Yet, the social transformation as we turned to 21st century left much to be desired. As the societal oppression on Dalits on social, educational, economic and brutal exploitation and bonded slavery continued, the euphoria of the abolition of untouchability waned by the seventies.

A sensational study in revealed the dark underbelly of the practice of untouchability in rural India in Untouchability in Rural India Ghanshyam Shah et al. These two reports dealt in detail patterns of abuse in rural areas; discrimination and exploitative labour; criminalisation of Dalit activists who fight for rights; attacks on Dalit women and forced unclean occupations. In the 21st century, the Amit Thorat and Omkar Joshi study, The Continuing Practice of Untouchability in India: Patterns and Mitigating Influences, in revealed that 27 per cent of India still practises untouchability, with 30 per cent household in rural and 20 per cent in urban areas accepting the practice.

The 33 per cent of poorer Indians by income practice untouchability while 23 per cent of the rich do. The report mentioned that per cent of households in the Hindi belt in North India accepted the practice, while Southern India accounted for 17 per cent. While literates showed 30 per cent practice, higher education did not bring it down much 24 per cent.

Ambedkarite remedies against discrimination on the basis of untouchability against the persons belonging to untouchable castes, now called Dalits, were: reservations in education, jobs and legislatures. The communities practising untouchability seek the abolition of remedies enunciated by Ambedkar rather than uprooting the scourge or its related and modern forms of discrimination and atrocities.

The Ooruttambalam centenary of Panchami is the celebration of a protest for equality, which is a rare event. The nation with all ideals enshrined in the Constitution should move towards celebrating every event that made us aware of our duty towards bringing humanity towards equality.

The forms and methods of modern-day untouchability need to be questioned and constitutional remedies enunciated need to be implemented with vigour rather than questioning the remedies designed to fight untouchability. The continuation of this practice in the 21st century will hamper the constitutional mandate of equality for all, and needs to be demolished once and for all, for which efforts in the Ambedkarite mode will continue. Colonel, his wife, son among 7 killed in Manipur ambush.

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