Country: India

Group: Mallar/ Pallar

Date Finalized: 11/2/2023

Team: Likith Munigala (lead), Kate Edwards, Khulan Davaasuren, Lori Francis, Autumn Towne

Content Warning: Lethal Violence, Rape, murder

Approximate Time Period: July 1995 – December 1998

The Pallar caste is a branch of Dalits, which is a group consisting of people treated as “untouchable” by other castes (Human Rights Watch, 1999). Historically, others referred to them as Mallar, but post 15th century, more powerful tribes from other parts of South India referred to the group as Pallar to degrade the Mallars’ status (Jan, 2015). The Mallar faced direct acts of lethal violence from the higher caste groups called the Thevars – who are majorly employed as police officers. The Thevars conducted raids in Dalit villages to search for militants, and in the process attacked many villagers and detained them under the preventive detention law (Human Rights Watch, 1999). This act resulted in the deaths of at least 215 individuals between July 1995 and December 1998 (Human Rights Watch, 1999).

There are cases of violent acts towards the Mallar (along with other Dalit castes like: Parayar, Chakkiliyars) in the village of Akramesi, where the Mallar who disobeyed faced Individual public violence (Jan, 2015). An act of disobedience is questioning the established caste hierarchy and disobeying the demands of the upper castes (Jan, 2015). The act of violence usually involved tying the person to a tree or a lamp post within the premise of the village and beating them until the person collapsed (Jan, 2015). 

Data Quality: 2/3. The data is rated a ⅔ because of the varied cases available to show acts of Lethal Violence faced by the Mallar by other majority groups. However, there is no ample literature available to reinforce the cases, therefore it is rated a ⅔. The data used is from reputable websites and journals, one of which is peer reviewed.

Sources

  1. Human Rights Watch (1999). The Pattern of Abuse – Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s “Untouchables”. (Human Rights Watch Report, 1999). https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-07.htm
  2. Jan, H. M. (2015). Communal Harmony through Inter-Caste Relations in Rural India. International Journal of Science and Humanities, Volume 1 (Number 2), pp. 999 – 1012.