India’s Caste Curse: A Hierarchy That Refuses to Die

In the small hours of October 2nd, in Unchahar, Uttar Pradesh, a mob beat Hariom Valmiki, a 40-year-old Dalit man, to death, mistaking him for a thief. Days later, in Chandigarh, Y. Puran Kumar, a Dalit IPS officer, shot himself, leaving a searing eight-page note accusing 13 senior officials of caste-driven harassment. In Delhi’s Supreme Court, a shoe hurled at Chief Justice B.R. Gavai—the second Dalit to hold India’s highest judicial post—unleashed a torrent of casteist slurs online. These are not echoes of India’s feudal past. They are its present. Caste, as B.R. Ambedkar warned in his 1936 treatise Annihilation of Caste, remains a social tyrant, cloaking itself in mob suspicion, bureaucratic rivalry, or religious outrage to enforce a hierarchy that decides who suffers, who is silenced, and who walks free.

New Masks, Old Truths

India’s economic ascent and affirmative action have propelled some Dalits into elite echelons, yet the social order bends without breaking. Hariom Valmiki’s lynching was framed as a tragic misunderstanding in a theft-prone village. But as voices on X, a social-media platform, pointed out, his Dalit identity primed him for suspicion—a perennial “outsider” in the rural gaze. Uttar Pradesh, with over 12,000 annual crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Tribes (STs) per 2024 NCRB data, is a hotspot for such violence. Yogi Adityanath, the state’s chief minister, promised Valmiki’s family housing and a job for his widow, but these are palliatives. The deeper malaise—caste as a license for mob justice—festers unchecked.

In Chandigarh, Y. Puran Kumar’s suicide exposes caste’s grip on India’s bureaucracy. His note detailed a litany of humiliations since 2020: denied leave to visit his dying father, sham postings, and stalled promotions, flouting Home Ministry norms for SC officers. His widow, an IAS officer, demanded a probe, while Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader, decried a “social poison”. A murky counter-narrative emerged when an investigating officer, also dead by suicide, alleged Kumar’s corruption, sparking X debates over selective outrage. Yet Kumar’s claims resonate with 2023 DoPT data showing Dalit officers face twice the promotion barriers of peers. The bureaucracy, meant to embody merit, mirrors the village in its exclusions.

The assault on CJI Gavai is perhaps the starkest indictment. On October 6th, advocate Rakesh Kishore hurled a shoe during a hearing, later claiming divine provocation over Gavai’s dismissal of a temple-related plea. Social media erupted with casteist vitriol, including AI-generated videos mocking Gavai with Dalit stereotypes. Punjab Police filed FIRs against over 100 accounts, but the damage was done. Gavai, an Ambedkarite Buddhist, embodies Dalit ascent—yet his elevation provoked a backlash cloaked in “Sanatan Dharma” rhetoric. As Ambedkar foresaw, constitutional power without social reform is a hollow victory.

The Cost of Inertia

These incidents are not aberrations but symptoms of a system where caste adapts to modernity. Economic mobility—15% of public-sector jobs are held by Dalits—has not dismantled hierarchy. NCRB data shows a 9% year-on-year rise in SC/ST atrocities, with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana as epicentres. Politically, the BJP’s silence or deflection to “law and order” invites opposition charges of constitutional betrayal, while X reveals a polarised echo chamber: progressives demand systemic change, reactionaries dismiss “caste politics”. The hierarchy persists because it serves power—dividing labour, sustaining patronage, and policing ambition.A Path to AnnihilationAmbedkar did not call for reform but for caste’s annihilation—a radical uprooting of social norms. Piecemeal measures like reservations have cracked the edifice but not razed it. 

A bolder blueprint is needed:

• Strengthen Justice: Fast-track courts for SC/ST Act cases, with a dismal 30% conviction rate in Uttar Pradesh, must be mandatory. AI-driven monitoring of online hate, as trialled in Punjab, could curb digital lynchings.
• Reform Institutions: Binding caste audits in bureaucratic and judicial promotions, alongside 25% SC/ST quotas in senior roles, could break glass ceilings. Kerala’s 2024 push for Dalit judicial representation offers a model.
• Educate and Mobilise: An anti-caste curriculum from school level, paired with Ambedkarite-led community dialogues, could erode prejudices. Maharashtra’s anti-untouchability campaigns cut village conflicts by 25% in 2022.
• Demand Accountability: A 2026 caste census, building on Bihar’s 2023 effort, would expose disparities. Tying MLAs’ performance to atrocity reductions could force political will.
• Empower Grassroots: Dalit-led apps for real-time atrocity reporting, scaled via alliances like Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0, could amplify voices, as Bhim Army’s UP protests did post-2018.

These are not utopian dreams but practical steps, rooted in successes like Tamil Nadu’s fast-track courts or Maharashtra’s grassroots drives. Yet annihilation demands more than policy—it requires upper castes to relinquish privilege, not defend it as “tradition”. As Ambedkar wrote, “Political tyranny is nothing compared to social tyranny.” The question is not whether caste endures, but whether India has the resolve to end it. The streets, suicides, and courtrooms demand an answer