No, I can’t talk about rape in India
without talking about Caste in India. The correlation films like ‘Article 15’ are trying to make.
By Priya Goswami, Mumkin App
‘Why is there a rape problem in your country?’
This question is perhaps the most frequently asked question that I have encountered while working outside India as a feminist documentary filmmaker. And each time someone asks me this question, I am sure that I am doing an incomplete job of attempting to answer it.
So here’s another attempt, without drawing out my staple ‘It’s complicated.’
A few years back, I found myself sitting in a small room, which was full of more papers, reports, and books than there was space to sit.
It was the ‘main room’ in a not for profit human rights law firm. A film on growing instances of gruesome rapes in Haryana, an Indian state, was being discussed and I was brought in as an observer, a documentary filmmaker.
As the narrative on what happened unfolded, I got uneasy, both wanting and not wanting to take this on. Although, I know everyone wants answers on growing instances of Gender-based violence in India.
More so as a filmmaker, I believe that this story needs to be told sensitively. Perhaps ideally, it should be determined from an Indian woman’s perspective. But should I be that person telling this story? Let’s come back to this question.
With the budget on the table, I could see that no matter the numbers, this undertaking guarantees no safety net for me as a human being.
I am not referring to physical safety here but the psychological shield that one needs while telling traumatic stories. However, when it came to the question of my physical security, I was oddly assured. I felt no threat to me even with the investigative nature of the documentary, with the possible travel to the real hinterland and speaking with people who may be involved in the crime.
My automatic response to feeling a safety wall between me, and this challenging story is what privilege must feel like, hard-wired and internalized.
Why?
Perhaps, because I know that my name is a dead indicator of my caste. My camera, and crew and even my English speaking ‘skills’ offer me a shield that no Dalit woman from the hinterland can ever have. And that is precisely the point I am trying to make.
Dalits are the lowest rung of the caste system, the untouchables. The people who do manual scavenging, cleaning of toilets and other tasks that no person from a higher Caste than Dalits is deemed fit for.
The rape case reports I sat surrounded by were all Dalit girls.
This 2014. We were looking at the systemic rape cases that happened in Haryana from October — December 2012.
Yet this just ONE of the countless case studies. Read Women’s UN report here. Also, these numerous rape case studies (ALL ON DALIT MINORS) that I sat surrounded by happened in the background of the infamous December 16th Delhi bus gangrape.
Want to know the real reason why the Delhi incident shook the nation and not these ‘other’ rapes?
The real reason was that the Delhi incident could be any of us. A blogger, filmmaker, doctor, lawyer, just someone who ill-fatedly took the wrong bus. Unlike incidents in Rohtak, Badaun or Kathua, where the victims were from a marginalized community that no one cares about.
What is horrific is the collective and systemic silence on the correlation of Caste and Gender-based violence in India.
Why aren’t these hate crimes, ‘to put Dalit women in their place’ looked at as a national security threat?
Here is a report by the International Dalit Solidarity Network and this graph below speaks volumes.
The atrocities on these marginalized girls are steadily on the increase. But we continue to count Swacch Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), Jio powered 4G telephones, our mission to frikkin Mars as achievements.
So is the silence borne out of exhaustion? Perhaps, a defense mechanism to safeguard oneself from the onslaught of inhuman actions based on a 2000-year-old tradition, the Caste system of India?
Anubhav Sinha’s film ‘Article 15’ brings to mind the struggle of documentary filmmakers in India trying to release their documentaries even within critically acclaimed festivals.
Recently, the screening of the internationally renowned filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan’s documentary ‘Reason’ was stopped at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerela (IDSFFK). Once again it was the case of Anand Patwardhan vs. the state, which was won by the filmmaker. The screening took place.
However, here’s a list of some of the films whose screenings were banned by the Indian government due to the ‘sensitive nature’ of the content:
The Unbearable Being of Lightness by PN Ramchandra on Rohit Vemulla issue. The documentary is now available online.
In the shade of fallen Chinar by NC Fazil and Shwan Sebastian on the Kashmir unrest. (Available online.)
March March March by Kanthu Lukose (The Information and Broadcasting Ministry blocked this film. It is also available online.)
Artists across the board have tried to create a conversation on Caste and suppression of minorities in India. Check this photo essay on the Muzaffarnagar rape case by photojournalist Ruhani Kaur.
But most importantly, there is art created by Dalit artists themselves, which needs celebration. Undeniably, the conversations on Dalit identity should be led by Dalits, championed by Dalits.
One of the most potent accounts I have read on Caste is Omprakash Valmiki’s ‘Joothan’ and more recently enjoyed Ginni Mahi’s rap. Follow her on Twitter at @MahiGinni (What a badass!)
However, there needs to be so much more and much more mainstream appreciation.
Yes, mainstreaming is the key here.
I know there has been a debate on why an upper-caste man is the ‘savior’ figure in the film ‘Article 15’. But to me, his naivety drives home the deliberate ignorance that urban India must shed.
The protagonist is not just any upper-caste man. He is an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, with urban education. And despite his education and international exposure, he NEEDS a rude awakening — a first-hand eye account of what goes on in rural India.
Perhaps in that sense, Ayan’s (character played by Ayushman Khurana) awakening in the film is a call to action for a pan India awakening?
Here’s a great interview by newslaundry with Gourav Solanki, the writer of ‘Article 15’ that debates the dilemma of choosing the identity of the main character.
Today, the moment between me sitting in that law firm and now has stretched for almost five years. I know this story needs sensitive, passionate, and above all, fearless storytelling.
There is a dialogue in the film ‘Article 15’ that I resonate with.
A forensic doctor significantly portrayed by a woman in the film, finds out about the gang-rape of the Dalit girls killed, a reference to the Badaun case in Uttar Pradesh. Knowing this, the doctor wants to desperately file the report when she interrupted by one of the culprits, also a policeman. He warns her saying
‘Take this load off your chest by writing a couple of lines of poetry on Facebook. But don’t mention gang-rape in the post mortem report — Let that be.’
I want to live in times when such issues are not dealt with just two heavy lines on Facebook.
Why is there a rape problem in India?
India has an extremely complex social fabric divided communally and on the lines of Caste and Class. Not to mention the different cultures that simultaneously co-exist with different mother tongues and ways of life.
Rape is many times perpetuated as a tool of oppression and to continue subjugating the lower caste or the minority religion.
Rape is rarely JUST an act of violence but a phenomenon of how the powerful subjugate the minorities. And as I write this, the breaking news on my social media is how a Dalit woman was raped in police custody.
If you want to talk to me about Gender-based violence in India, drop me a line at priya@mumkinapp.com
I am friendly and try not to bite.
