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Vrinda Sharma

Karori(Haryana): Chandrapati Berwal (55), widow and mother of four, the first women in Haryana to have fought a legal battle against the influential khap panchayats after the honour killing of her son and daughter-in-law in 2007, has lend hope to other victims and taught a lesson to the panchayats.

After conviction of Babli’s relatives on Tuesday for murder of Babli and Manoj, Chandrapti traces her ordeal, “I faced threats, abuse and social boycott by the rest of the village. For the last three years, my life has been at a standstill. I had convinced myself that I would not be able to move on till my son got justice,” Chandrapati said.
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Vrinda Sharma

AMBALA: Each morning a group of Dalit women step outside their homes to ‘fulfil their social role’ of cleaning dry latrines with their brooms and bare hands then carry human excrement in pots and baskets on their heads.

Moulded into submission to accept the worse possible form of caste oppression these women lead the life devoid of hygiene, dignity and rights - for wages as low as Rs 15 a month. “I was not used to do this work before I was married but my mother in law forced me. I don’t blame her, at that time it was the only way we could feed our families. We were told that our ancestors did this and this is the only thing that we could do as Dalits, as if picking people’s shit was a skill or a legacy,” said an angry Kusum one of the many scavengers of Ambala who left scavenging 10 months back and now work as a sweeper.
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