50 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
practised against the Depressed Classes are very various and the capacity of the Depressed Classes to protect themselves is extremely limited. The facts, which obtain in this connection and which are of common occurrence throughout India, are well described in the Abstracts of Proceedings of the Board of Revenue of the Government of Madras dated 5th Nov., 1892, No. 723, from which the following is an extract:—
“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 land-lords’ 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.”