The intersection of caste and gender

On Sunday, while fetching water from a crematorium cooler, a nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and murdered, and later, hastily cremated, in Purani Nangal village in Delhi. Relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act have been invoked. Dalits make up roughly 20% of the national Capital’s 20 million people, and the poverty-stricken Valmikis — the victim’s caste — form about two-thirds of the SC population in the city. Dalit women confront a “triple burden” as they face caste discrimination, gender bias, and economic deprivation — with the worst form of oppression being sexual assault. When a 19-year-old girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, was left to a similar fate last year, it brought to the fore a familiar pattern that follows caste atrocities against young girls.