STATES AND MINORITIES 407
who do not belong to their community. Unequal treatment has been the inescapable fate of the Untouchables in India. The following extract from the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue of the Government of Madras No. 723 dated 5th November, 1892. illustrates the sort of unequal treatment which is meted out to the Scheduled Castes by Hindu Officers. Says the report :
“134. There are forms of oppression only hitherto hinted at which must be at least cursorily mentioned. To punish disobedience of Pariahs, their masters—
( a ) bring false cases in the village Court or in the criminal Courts;
( b ) obtain, on application, from Government, waste lands lying all round the paracheri, so as to impound the Pariahs’ cattle or obstruct the way to their temple;
( c ) have mirasi names fraudulently entered in the Government account against the paracheri;
( d ) pull down the huts and destroy the growth in the backyards;
( e ) deny occupancy right in immemorial sub-tenancies;
( f ) forcibly cut the Pariahs’ crops, and on being resisted charge them with theft and rioting;
( g ) under misrepresentations, get them to execute documents by which they are afterwards ruined;
( h ) cut off the flow of water from their fields;
( i ) without legal notice, have the property of sub-tenants attached for the landlords’ arrears of revenue.”
“135. It will be said there are civil and criminal Courts for the redress of any of these injuries. There are the Courts indeed; but India does not breed village Hampdens. One must have courage to go to the Courts; money to employ legal knowledge, and meet legal expenses; and means to live during the case and the appeals. Further most cases depend upon the decision of the first Court; and these Courts are presided over by officials who are sometimes corrupt and who generally for other reasons, sympathize with the wealthy and landed classes to which they belong.”.
“136. The influence of these classes with the official world can hardly be exaggerated. It is extreme with natives and great even with Europeans. Every office, from the highest to the lowest, is stocked with their representatives, and there is no proposal affecting their interests but they can bring a score of influence to bear upon it in its course from inception to execution.”
The Punjab Land Alienation Act is another illustration of unequal treatment of the Untouchables by the Legislature.
Many other minority communities may be suffering from similar treatment at the hands of the majority community. It is therefore necessary to have