Source: India Today
“Anil Mishra, a Brahmin, allegedly murdered a 23-yr-old Dalit woman in Madhya Pradesh, 2018, for daring to report him for sexually harassing her while she was a domestic worker at his house. The media called him her “jilted lover”.”
On 20th August, 2018, Ranu Nagatra, a 23 year old Dalit woman who studied at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Government Girls College in Seoni, MP, was allegedly murdered by a man named Anil Mishra, whose surname shows that he is a Brahmin though this has not been explicitly stated in news reports. She was a resident of Phulwari village and in her final year of B.A. She had been working as a domestic worker at his house to make ends meet for her family after her father’s death.
Mishra had repeatedly harassed her while she was working at his house, according to reports. Around six months after she had filed the sexual harassment complaint against him, she was on her way to college. Mishra was waiting for her on his bike near the Kotwali police station. Here, they had a conversation after which he reportedly got furious, dragged her by the hair, pushed her on the roadside, and murdered her in broad daylight by bashing her head in with a big stone lying nearby. Before that, he had tried many times to pressure her into withdrawing her complaint but she had refused. She died on the way to the hospital.
The first instance of victim blame here is the pressure the man put on her for months, to force her to withdraw her complaint. The act of seeking justice for workplace harassment here led to further harassment and intimidation. This points to not only the tactic of victim blame employed by the harasser, but also the negligence of the police authorities in protecting a victim from the aftermath of raising her voice.
Certain media reports framed the violence as a case of a ‘jilted lover’ taking revenge after having his advances refused by the victim. The caste of the perpetrator was not mentioned in media reports either.
First of all, this invisibilises the nature of the advances themselves. The advances were made by a male Brahmin employer at a job that was crucial for Ranu’s family’s survival. He commanded power not just within the workplace but over her family and community as well. He made “advances” towards a young, Dalit woman while she was at work, knowing that she was not his equal in that context. These are not “romantic advances” but rather an abuse of power and an attempt at exploitation. To invisibilise this crucial dynamic is to shift the blame away from the perpetrator.
Secondly, the victim is being blamed for saying ‘no’, and it is being implied that it is justified for the man to inflict violence in retaliation. Should all “lovers” who are “jilted” pick up rocks to beat women to death? Anil Mishra’s status as a Brahmin man is what enabled him to inflict this violence in order to punish a Dalit woman for daring to say no and for filing a complaint.
Invisibilizing caste and power when they are the very reasons why she was harassed and murdered, is victim blame.
References:
https://scroll.in/latest/891232/madhya-pradesh-man-allegedly-stones-dalit-student-to-death-after-being-accused-of-sexual-harassment
https://www.newsclick.in/woman-killed-allegedly-accused-refusing-withdraw-sexual-harassment-case-against-him
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jilted-lover-bludgeons-woman-madhya-pradesh-1319164-2018-08-20
