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India, the
largest democratic country in the world is
replete with human rights violation. Every year,
several people send behind the bar for political
reasons. Torture and brutality are prevalent,
common men are the major sufferer. Besides this
custodial deaths are growing gradually.
Violation of human rights was widespread even in
the ancient age. It changes its face according
to the situation of the society.
In the later vedic age the society was set up on
caste systems: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya,
and Shudras were the four leading castes. The
duties of different caste were distributed; from
there onwards the Indian society was divided in
groups and casteism, which is still the major
part of our society. The Brahmins considered as
the priestly class and all the religious work
were done by the Brahmanas. They got the top
position in the society.
The Kshatriyas or warriors class had to fight
and protect the clan and ruled it. The Vaishyas
or merchants had to see the finance of the
society. The Shudras or the outcasts had to
execute unskilled jobs like scavenging, fishing
and removing dead bodies. Shudras were deprived
of study Vedas, their main duty was to serve the
three top casts. Thus, the society created such
a situation, which forced shudras to remain
educationally and financially backward.
Shudras were not allowed to enter into the
premises of upper caste or temple. They used to
get heavy punishment for their trivial mistakes.
It is undeniable that varna system during Vedic
age gave birth of human rights violation in
India.
The women remained a degraded group in India
since the ancient age. Women are forced to work
as prostitutes. At present massage centre,
hotels and different clubs are being used for
prostitution. In the name of religion girls were
exploited, the devdasi system in the south
Indian temples was an example in front of us.
Devdasis were kept in the temples to serve the
god but they were nothing more than prostitutes
Sati and child marriage had deteriorated the
overall condition in the society. The sati
practice forced widows to burn alive on their
husband's funeral pyre. Credit should be given
to social reformer and father of Indian
renaissance Raja Ram Mohan Roy for his efforts
to abolish this evil practice from the society.
Despite banned by the government some cases of
sati still found in Indian. Roop Kanwar’s case
took place in 1987.
Widow remarriage was not allowed in the Indian
society. Therefore they were sexually assaulted;
besides this victim of different kind of
atrocities. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar a noted
social reformer worked hard to popularize the
widow remarriage in India. Despite criticism, he
remained firm on his feet.
Irrespective of hard work by the social
reformers Indian society is still stuffed with
vices. The design of human rights violation has
changed but it has taken a deep root in the
country. After the 60 years of independence
lower castes presently considered inferior class
in the society. The organization of Indian
society has been changing from time to time but
the overall condition of lower castes has
remained static as it was during the period of
ancient age
Women and weaker sections of the society are the
main target in the human rights violation. Not
to talk of custodial death, in the name of
encounter police are responsible for several
cold blooded murder. Unfortunately such numbers
of deaths are going up. Human rights violation
has been taking place in every nook and corner
of the universe. It’s a global problem just like
terrorism. It should be tackled as quickly as
possible so that law abiding citizens could live
peacefully.
Rape, sexual harassment, dowry, bride burning
etc are the thorn of our society. It is easy to
speak against such vices of the society. But how
to cope with these problems no one is ready to
come forward with concrete planning. Violence
against women and the downtrodden of the society
are the serious issue. Government along with
NGOs and others should understand the gravity of
the situation and attempt to uproot such
violence from the society to make an egalitarian
society.
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