Word: kuchchi
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...When Kuchchi Devi, 24, and her husband Dhanraj, 26, used to walk together to the well for a bath, the villagers of Saton Dharampur would sigh at the grace of this "pair of swans," as they were called. He was tall and handsome. She was lovely, with smooth skin and sloping eyes. The local landlord, Arjun Singh, noticed Kuchchi's beauty too. One day last month he approached her as she cut wheat in his fields and offered her two bullocks and other favors if she would sleep with him. Dhanraj angrily told Singh to leave his wife alone. That...
...place in the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh, the constituency of Prime Minister V.P. Singh, and the landlord is a Thakur, a member of the same upper caste as the nation's leader. Eager to embarrass the Prime Minister, the opposition Congress (I) Party has turned the plight of Kuchchi Devi into the country's leading cause celebre...
...that it will do much good for the country's 128 million other untouchables, or Harijans. Kuchchi's case only underscores how, despite special laws aimed at protecting them, the Harijans face despicably high levels of oppression. Last week a Harijan woman was reportedly burned to death after being gang raped by three men, again in Fatehpur. In 1989 more than 14,000 anti-Harijan atrocities, including 759 rapes and 479 murders, were registered. Countless others went unrecorded because victims fear the police, who are themselves frequently the perpetrators. Often cruelties against Harijans are considered just part of local custom...
...their loss, Kuchchi Devi, who is four months pregnant, and her in-laws have been granted $2,743 by the government. Prime Minister Singh has promised that the "sternest action" will be taken against the guilty parties. But his assertion has been greeted with skepticism, given the strong links between the Establishment and upper-caste landlords. Indeed, one of the accused, Raju Singh, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a priest in 1986 but was released because of his high connections. Kuchchi Devi lamented last week that she was weary of having her tragedy exploited by politicians. Said...
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