“Hang the Rapists Immediately”: Rape Vigilantism, State Violence, and Impunity in Contemporary India”

Chaitanya Lakkimsetti | Associate Professor, Sociology

Abstract:

This essay focuses on increasing public demands for “instant justice” in response to sexual violence in contemporary India. Through close analysis of a specific event—the brutal 2019 gang rape and murder of a female veterinarian in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, public demands for instant killing of the suspect men, and subsequent police killing of four male suspects—I show how in the aftermath of serious crimes against women rape and rape laws act as a contested site of public power. During instances of sexual violence that are deemed as exceptional, public mobilization against rape advances the idea that “instant justice” in the form of lynching or extrajudicial police action is the only way to respond to and control such crime. In discussing the linkages between vigilantism and state violence, I coin the terms “rape vigilantism” to theorize this shift. Rape vigilantism is a performative political practice that shores up the state’s sovereign power by demanding the state to act outside the bounds of the law. Whereas critiques of carceral feminism draw our attention to how singular focus on advancing penal solutions to gender-based violence expands state power, these critiques mainly focus on formal state institutions and practices. I contend that feminist analysis of rape politics in a postcolonial context should also attend to extrajudicial state practices—such as police executions in the name of providing “instant justice”—and the public legitimization of these practices to understand how “regimes of impunity” are produced to strengthen state and social dominance.

 

 

 

 

 

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“Kalahandi - Despair, Dreams, and Uneven Distributions”

Anand Datla, Ph.D. Candidate | Geography

Abstract:

Kalahandi literally means dark pot. The district has a long history of drought and poverty, almost defining the nature of its 20^th century existence. Since then, the construction of the Indravati dam, and the alumina refinery in Lanjigarh have opened new vistas of agrarian and employment opportunities in the region. However, despite visible improvements in infrastructure, and economic growth, the progress remains an uneven experience for communities in the district.

Some farmers flourish through access to resources from the state, social relations, and topological advantages in a hilly region. Others continue to struggle to attain consistent livelihoods or abilities to practice farming without depending on extractive money lenders or migrating to urban areas. The barriers to their economic wellbeing are social as they are economic, witnessed through cattle grazing practices that predate recent economic developments.

The situation in Odisha is a profound characteristic of many development scenarios. Farmers need to keep pace or concede ground in places such as Lanjigarh, where the cost of living is constantly rising on the fuel of industrial growth. Despite policy support, nonprofits action, and civic responsibility, scale remains hard to achieve. Further, one needs to remain wary of the disparities that could be created through the harvest of subsidies by influential segments, even within tribal societies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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