as a %u201Cblot on humanity%u201D adding that %u201Ceven after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection and state support, there is still social discrimination against Dalits in many parts of our country.%u201D
%u201CPrime Minister Singh has rightly compared %u2018untouchability%u2019 to apartheid, and he should now turn his words into action to protect the rights of Dalits,%u201D said Professor Smita Narula, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law, and co-author of the report. %u201CThe Indian government can no longer deny its collusion in maintaining a system of entrenched social and economic segregation.%u201D
Dalits endure segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services. They are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused at the hands of the police and upper-caste community members who enjoy the state%u2019s protection. Entrenched discrimination violates Dalits%u2019 rights to education, health, housing, property, freedom of religion, free choice of employment, and equal treatment before the law. Dalits also suffer routine violations of their right to life and security of person through state-sponsored or -sanctioned acts of violence, including torture.
Caste-motivated killings, rapes, and other abuses are a daily occurrence in India. Between 2001 and 2002 close to 58,000 cases were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act %u2013 legisla
