Dalit Negotiations: Yogesh Maitreya’s Perspective on University Spaces and Human Rights

My Paper attempts to study the atrocities and violations of basic human rights faced by Dalit students, teachers, and employees in University spaces. Discrimination based on ‘caste’ is still one of the most disregarded human rights abuses in the twenty-first century. The everlasting discrimination and mortification experienced by the Dalits frequently in their social life do not withdraw from them when they enter the University. Universities are seen as sites of learning and advancement. Therefore, supposedly should be devoid of prejudices. The Dalits face inequitable treatment leading to the violation of their human rights at the hands of the University Administration mostly governed and dominated by the Upper Castes. India has clearly failed to uphold the international legal obligations to ensure the basic human rights to the marginalized sections; even the University Spaces are not free from such practices. It requires humongous efforts to eradicate it. The Prevention of Atrocities Act, framed for the protection of Dalit Human rights, has its own limitations and hence is a farce. The United Nations Human Rights Council (2009) in Geneva reflected on the restructuring of caste and race-based discrimination and emphasized that it needs to be fought on a global level. The sufferings of Dalits are universal; their oppression is the worst form of Human Rights violation in the world even today. Sadly, these liberal Institutions only act as a catalyst. This issue is portrayed through the collection of short stories by the Dalit writer Yogesh Maitreya in his book Flowers on the Grave of Caste. Maitreya, through his book, portrays how the Dalits are discriminated against and subjugated in the Universities of India. This often leads to suicide, mental health issues, lack of confidence in the Dalit students. Therefore, leaving them with a feeling of ‘other’ even within the protected institutions. This paper will further debate the issues faced by Dalits through the lenses of the structures of oppression like Structural Violence, Institutional Violence, Systemic Oppression, and Intersectionality. This explains the discrimination and violence meted out on social categories like race, class, caste, gender, and how they are interconnected. It is propagated through the sites of higher education and explained with the examples cited from Maitreya’s Short stories reflecting desecration of the basic human rights of the Dalit students.