Dalits Abroad: A Lawsuit Exposes Indian Discrimination in the United States – By Aniket Chaudhary
In May, a suit was filed on behalf of more than 200 Indian construction workers against their employer, Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, alleging violations of federal and state labor laws as well as anti-human trafficking laws….
Back in 2001, there was the case of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, an Indian-American landlord who had been trafficking Dalits from his ancestral village in India who were then forced into sexual slavery, servitude, and were often raped. Though the case was related to labor and sexual exploitation, the perspective of castes was ignored.
The Cisco Systems case and the forced labor incident in New Jersey have thrown a light upon what was in the shadow in the Reddy case: subjugation and subordination due to membership of a group caste…. now there is ample evidence and discussion among the Indian diaspora related to castes and thus, it is a chance for the U.S. to stand and acknowledge castes as a protected class, and save thousands of Dalits who are at the receiving end of this practice which is so embedded with inequality.
