We are Dalits, that’s our sin

Poignant words from the mother of the 19-year-old woman, who was assaulted and murdered in Hathras, UP.

The cremation grounds for ‘them’ are separate, they are not allowed into the local temple, they are discriminated at school and even in death.

While the teenager’s brutal assault has become national news, and as outrage peaks on all fora, only to die down in the near future, when prime-time shouting matches latch on to the next TRP enabler, one cannot help but resign to a feeling of helplessness as an ordinary citizen, who expects to be living in a civilized society.

It is a feeling one shares with the family, who had to watch their loved one being taken away and cremated without their consent. It is a feeling that we are uncomfortably learning to live with, as we see civility die along with human dignity.