The Khairlanji court denied any caste motive for the massacre
Evidence
At first, the press reported it as a ‘morality’ murder, suggesting that the villagers were upset because Surekha was having an affair with a relative (the man who had previously been assaulted). Mass protests by Dalit organisations eventually prodded the legal system into taking cognisance of the crime. Citizens’ fact-finding committees reported how evidence had been tampered with and fudged. When the lower court finally pronounced a judgement, it sentenced the main perpetrators to death but refused to invoke the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act—the judge held that the Khairlanji massacre was a crime spurred by a desire for ‘revenge’. He said there was no evidence of rape and no caste angle to the killing. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 31
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Directly instantiates Ambedkar’s point that law cannot guarantee rights when the community opposes them (quoted at passage 37).
Related
- Indian courts can airbrush caste out of atrocity verdicts entirely (similarity 0.86)
- Privileged-caste militias massacre Dalits yet courts overturn the convictions. (similarity 0.81)
- A mob lynched a Dalit family after police ignored repeated complaints. (similarity 0.80)
- Indian courts routinely overturn convictions in caste massacres for lack of evidence (similarity 0.78)