Report of the Indian People’s Tribunal on Caste Based Atrocities on 'Dalits in Varanasi and Surrounding Areas in UP - Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT)
The upper castes and richer and landed classes are countering this with violence and threats to frighten the Dalits by using criminal gangs. Unfortunately the very guardians of law and order, the police force, either due to the lure of money or the prejudice against lower castes, are often seen by the Dalits and lower castes as the
greatest perpetrators of terror, and appear to be the 'criminal gangs', or as one person put it, 'governmental goondas', hired by the upper castes. The lawlessness of the keepers of the law and their ability to get away with it, is a shocking revelation of the collapse of justice. The Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT) was requested to conduct an inquiry into caste based atrocities by State and non-state actors in Varanasi and Chaundoli districts of Uttar Pradesh by People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) & Ashoka:' Innovators for the Public.