Beyond Pink : A Dalit Woman’s Reflection on Ending Gender Based Violence

Aniruddha Roy’s 2016 Indian courtroom drama PINK looks at the difficult journey for Indian women to receive justice and stand as equals in Indian courts for our rights. As I watched the film I was struck by the fact that the film speaks only of Savarna women’s experiences and not of Dalit Bahujan women like myself. We may share the same perpetrators but our journeys to justice are quite different.

Take for example an incident that happened 12 years back.

A friend of mine in University had just registered a complaint against a boy for gender discrimination. I came to her immediately and found out she had also raised the issue of caste discrimination and was going to file the case under the Prevention of Atrocity Act.

It was the first time I had heard of a complaint that linked gender with caste and I was both confused and curious as to why. No one in my life had ever told me that caste and gender could be linked.

As she told me her story. I understood and have only deepened that understanding. Her story is the story of myself and all the other Dalit women I know. For gender is shaped by caste in India. And you can’t talk about the issues that impact women, trans, and gender non-conforming folks without naming caste attitudes about all those who are affected by brahmin cis-brahmin-hetero patriarchy.

So what of my friend?

Well, my friend’s complaint was horrifying simple. A fellow Savarna student had questioned her character. They had once been platonic friends. Then one day he propositioned her even though he had a girlfriend. When she refused he began to spread lies about her character citing her modern clothes as proof that she was “loose”. His lies became campus gossip and soon everyone was talking about her.

Now if this was Pink what do you think would happen next? As the police inspector intimates,

“Voh bindi wali fauz hamare peeche padti hain, mombatti jalathi hain

(Those women with bindis on their forehead would be behind us and light candles).”

But there were no Fabindia feminists with big bindis nor any candles to light the way for my friend.

For she was a Dalit.

Her perpetrator targeted her because she was Dalit. He knew she was vulnerable. She did not have the same networks of power that he had. And as a result his caste friends believed him and not her. There was also a vague sense of wanting to put her in her place because she was a Dalit woman who spoke English well and dressed in Western clothes. As a result she was isolated by both Savarna men and women.

And who abetted this caste perpetrator the most? They were the so called cultured and well dressed, English speaking Savarna men and women in Universities who claim to be liberal and progressive.

These Savarna liberals stood with the perpetrator…got him bail and provided a safe place for him to stay. And if that was not bad the Savarna feminists began to put pressure on my friend to withdraw her case.

Which she did. Because she was utterly alone.

Why?

Because she was a Dalit Woman.

For respect, credibility, and honor in our society is fundamentally determined by your caste. That is why all of society fought for Jessica, Priyadarshini, and Nirbhaya to get justice. While the cases of Delta, Jisha, Priyanka, and the thousands of other Dalit sisters languish in the bowels of the caste Hindu justice system.

As I think of my friend I am filled with anger. And I want to ask you.

When was a Dalit woman considered to be pure?

When was a Dalit woman considered worthy of respect?

When was a Dalit woman seen as the ideal and aspiration woman in society?

I don’t have to know you to know the answer to this question. For everyday I bear the repercussions of them. This is how deeply caste ideas of Dalit women have penetrated the sense of respect we should be given.

Even the highest ranking Dalit politician Mayawati was referred to as prostitute. Could you imagine Hindutva politicians referring to Didi Mamata or Amma Jayalalita or any of their other Savarna female colleagues with such similar disrespect?

All this goes to show that yes a movie like Pink is important. But we need to go farther. We need Dalit women to create new characters, writers, and yes even directors. I am working to be one of these. Until then I will watch a movie like PINK and have the fleeting satisfaction of watching a good movie with an important social message. But ultimately leave sad that this message is incomplete.