The Human Rights Club Regards The Hindu Caste System and Patriarchy Within India

Nicole Dorfman, Writer

People from Franklin, MA sign a petition following two Dalit women who are convicted of their brother’s crime. Their punishment is to be raped, blackened, and paraded naked around their village within Baghpat, Utter Pradesh, India.

On social media, it relayed an article revealing the patriarchy and inequality of the Hindu Caste System and how it must be reformed as a result of this event.

This petition was created so that people from Franklin and other areas in the US and UK could rally for these girls’ human rights. In turn, the petition was proven successful a month later.

However despite the success from the petition, two FHS students who’ve signed the petition, Gabby Suarez and Abby Lavallee, still feel that there is injustice within the police and government of India despite the protests of many. They believe, in order to attempt to fix this problem the governments should take steps such as to cite the Supremacy Clause which is a United Nations (UN) rule.

Abby Lavallee asserts: “Since rape is convicted as a UN crime, even if it isn’t a crime within the villages but rather a punishment, a universal law is deemed more supreme and final than village law.”

On a different note, when asked how the police should encounter patriarchy within the social constructs of India, Abby says: “A punch is a punch. Both the police and government should punish the perpetrator of the crime regardless of status and gender.”

In this instance, the petitioners argue that patriarchy is present due to the fact that the brother had committed the crime and ran away, yet the sisters were blamed for letting him escape and thus were given his punishment.

More focused on the caste system as a prevalent issue, Gabby Suarez believes that the government should seek to preach the law instead of the Hindu Religion. Instead of having the dalits or untouchables solely get rid of dead animals and clean outhouses, Gabby says: “The government should allow dalits to apply to any job if they work as hard as the rest of the workers and should present dalits with better education in order to achieve this goal.”

In addition, Gabby believes that “in fact when anyone is in immediate danger of violence such as rape, both women and men should have access to a case immediately.”

Intense discussions such as these are held at Franklin High School’s meeting of The Human Rights Club in Room 224 on Fridays.

Come into Room 224 to join in on a bunch of passionate people with great intentions regarding Human Rights in all countries.