Civil Disobedience in Today's India

Sumanta Banerjee

Gandhiji launched the civil disobedience movement in 1930, urging people to violate the repressive laws enacted by the British colonial rulers. Today India is witnessing another type of civil disobedience, this time spontaneous violation of progressive laws by its people.

To go back to history of enactment of progressive laws in post-Independence India, successive generations of different ruling parties, irrespective of their political hues, whether at the Centre or state capitals, had banned certain social practices which violate not only the basic principles of the Constitution, but also universal human rights. Laws enacted by the government promise to ensure protection to the victims of such obscurantist beliefs and practices. Yet, judg­ing by news reports from almost every corner of India, these laws that bring about social reforms are being violated every day by common Indian citizens, both in vast parts of rural India, as well in certain parts of urban India, particularly in what are known as the heartland. These people appear to prefer traditional con­servative customs, usually pa­triarchal which are directed against women, and discriminatory which are directed against the under-privileged Dalits and Adivasis.

It is better to stop valourising the Indian masses (the usual tactics adopted by all political parties in their poll campaigns), and instead one should start demystifying the mob psychology that prevails among the majority Hindu community, the minority Muslim community, as well as among the Dalits and Adivasis (many among whom follow obscurantist practices that violate human rights). The tactics of valourisation of the masses is a double-edged sword. At times, it suits the secular and socialist forces when the masses get allured by their electoral promises of economic and social benefits. At times, the same masses from among the Hindu community get allured by communal parties which rouse them to indulge in deadly riots against Muslim minorities. Similarly, some members of the Muslim minority community of­ten get swayed by divisive messages propagated by fanatical religious preachers, and resort to terrorist acts. Apart from indulging in these inter-religious acts of violence, these masses from the dominant majority communities also target the underprivileged sections amidst their own respective societies. Thus, mem­bers of the upper caste masses in Hindu society persecute the Dalits and Adivasis who occupy the lowest steps in the hierarchical ladder of that society.

Similarly, in Muslim society the rich and privileged Ashrafs (who claim their descent from the Prophet) look down upon and exploit the Pasmanda Muslims, who are mainly artisans and craftsmen.

Collective Violation of Progressive Laws
Such acts by the masses, usually encouraged by political leaders to further their interests, but quite often spontaneous, violate the basic premise of the Constitution, which under Article 15 prohibits "discrimination on grounds of religion, race-caste, sex or place of birth". They also violate progressive laws of social reform. Important among these laws are: (i) Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961; (ii) Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; (iii) Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006; (iv) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atroci­ties) Act of 1989; (v) Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, among others. It is necessary to recall that some of the social reforms envisaged by the enactment of these present laws, were attempted long before Independence by a handful of brave Indian social reformers like Rammohan Roy and Vidyasagar in nineteenth century Bengal, and the Arya Samajist leaders in north India and later Periyar in the south and the Phule couple in Maharashtra. They were followed by new legislations of social reform introduced by successive governments in post-Independence India, since the days of the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Yet, after 78 years of Independence one finds their implementation is being hampered and obstructed by two impediments - (i) conservative political leaders who oppose those reforms and laws; and (ii) stumbling officials who under pressure from these leaders hesitate to take action against those who violate those laws.

But beneath the surface of these two overt factors there lies a vast social territory of covert factors which provides the soil that nourishes conservatism and orthodoxy. As pointed out ear­lier, it is the vast mass of these common people who follow the most orthodox social customs at their ground level and who resist the implementation of these progressive laws. During elections they are allured by parties, irrespective of their political hues, which defend their rights to follow these feudal discriminatory patriarchal customs at the village level in their panchayats.

Here are a few cases: The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 criminalises the social evil, protects married women from domestic harassment and violence, and provides punishment for those violating it. Yet, the practice continues, with both the bridegroom's and the bride's families collaborating in conforming to the illegal custom by haggling over the amount of money to be paid during the wedding. The quarrel continues even after the payment is made, as the bridegroom and his family demand more, and take it out on the wife blaming her parents for refusing to oblige them. It is the wives who suffer. They are either killed by the inlaws, or are driven to commit suicide. The number of dowry-related deaths of women was over 6000 in 2023. It is significant that most of these deaths occur in urban middle and upper middle-class families, who are well-educated, and well-established in their professions and careers. During the 2017-2022 period, thirty percent of all the dowry deaths occurred in the nation's capital New Delhi, according to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau), followed by Kanpur with thirteen percent. Even when the cases came up before the courts, only a few resulted in conviction, with the presiding judges acquitting the accused on flimsy grounds like lack of evidence-as if the husbands and inlaws were expected to pro­vide evidence by voluntarily acknowledging their complicity in the crime!

The reluctance of the judges to punish those accused of violating the The Dowry Prohibition Act, and further those guilty of dowry-related killings which come under the jurisdiction of the Bharatiya Nyya Sanhita Act, once again exposes the patriarchal mindset of large sections of the judiciary right from the lower courts in the districts up to the apex court. On an average, of the 6,500 dowry related cases sent for trial every year during the 2017-2022 period, only around 100 resulted in convictions. (Re: THE HINDU. July 15, 2025). This trend of judicial passivity encourages people to violate the law with impunity.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was enacted in 2006. The Supreme Court issued comprehensive guidelines for prohi­bition of child marriage and effective implementation of the Act. Yet the practice of marrying of girls before they reach the age of 18 continues in our soci­ety. According to the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), the number of cases registered for violation of that Act increased from 395 in 2017 to 1050 in 2021. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in its report in 2024, reveals that while carrying out interviews with married women it found that some 23% of them were married off by their parents before they were eighteen. The usual rea­sons offered by their parents were: (i) adherence to the socially prevalent patriarchal norm of marrying off girls before they reach the age when they are mature enough to make choices on their own; (ii) the financial burden of bringing up a girl which involves the responsibility of providing health care and education for her. So, the sooner she is disposed off, the better. Here again, it is the ground level popular beliefs and customs that sabotage progressive laws which seek to emancipate women from patriarchal bondage.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was en­acted in 2005, which was mainly intended to save wives from harassment by their husbands and inlaws. Some fourteen years later, the NCRB (National Crimes Record Bureau) found that of the total cases of crimes against women recorded in 2019, at least thirty percent related to domestic violence. The usual forms of abuse were sexual as­saults, murders, female infanticide, harassing by in-laws, and acid throwing. Here again, it is the common people (ranging from the urban middle-class to the rural agricultural families amidst whom these cases occur) who are the main perpetrators of such violence against their own women folks. Incidentally, it is not only men who indulge in such abuses. Among these culprits there are women like mothers-in-law who perpetrate the worst form of harassing of the brides of their sons. How can one explain their psyche? It could be a pervert way of seek­ing revenge for their own suffer­ings at the hands of their in-laws in the past by re-enacting the same modes of oppression against the newly-arrived brides. It could also be a mode of keep­ing them under control so that they didn't deviate from the con­servative family rules and join their husbands in sharing an independent life-style.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was passed in 1989. Today, when India is about to complete four decades of that law, it may not be out of place to examine how far it is observed by the common people at the ground level. It bans untouch-ability (which is outlawed under the Indian Constitution also). Here are a few recent instances of how it is being mocked at by these people. In Panjankulam in the Tenkasi district of Tamilnadu, in September 2022, a shopkeeper refused to sell snacks to scheduled caste children. In Jalore district in Rajasthan, on August 14, 2024 a Dalit boy, Indra Meghawal was lynched by the common villagers (who consisted not only of the upper caste Brahmins and Kayasths but also of the OBC community), just because he touched a drinking pot of water in a school that was reserved only for his upper caste teachers.

These are not isolated cases. They reflect the general mentality of discrimination against the Dalits and Adivasis that is shared by all sections of the Hindu socirty, including the lower classes. The latter, despite their oppression by the upper castes, still nurture prejudices against the lower castes and tribals among their own classes - agricultural labourers in villages and scavengers in cities. The upper caste and upper class sections flaunt their power over these under-privileged people, under the patronage of the current regime, and the lower classes usually follow the same practices. This submission is due not only to their sheer need for survival, but also to their age-old beliefs and customs which reinforce superstitions beliefs.

To take another issue of popular violation of progressive laws, let us examine how far the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act which was en­acted in 2013 is being imple­mented. It defined a manual scavenger as a "person engaged or employed ...for manually clearing, carrying, disposing off, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta." Even eight years after its enactment, a Union Minister told Parliament in 2021 that there were 58,098 manual scavengers across the country. According to the Safai Karmachari Andolan, (agi­tating for the elimination of manual scavenging, the number was more than 770,000).

What is worse is that it is the urban middle class people who had been patronising this illegal heinous practice, just to serve their selfish public and domestic needs. In the public sphere, it is these middle class dominated municipalities which employ these manual scavengers to clean public sewers in roads, requiring their entry into the underground holes, which often lead to their deaths. In the domestic sphere, these middle class families employ them to clean their septic tanks. Here also, the manual scavengers face risks. In 2023, eight labourers in Uttar Pradesh and four in the national capital New Delhi, lost their lives while cleaning septic tanks in private residences. In May that year in Noida (which is on the edge of the capital), two daily wage labourers, Khokon Mandal (40) and Noomi Mandal (36) died while cleaning a septic tank at a private residence. The owner of the house who employed them, initially offered their families a compensation of Rs 8 lakhs, but later withdrew the offer. What needs to be emphasised in these cases is that it is the members of the Indian public, ranging from the well-educated and well-heeled upper- and middle-class sections to the lower-class slum-dwellers in the cities, who continue to sanction such illegal practices both in public spaces and their private houses.

Regressive Practices Within Adivasi Communities
When one moves from these middle-class urban localities to the other end of the socio-economic sphere -the interior Adivasi and Dalit villages - one finds yet another type of popular violation of progressive laws. It relates to cases of widespread witch hunting by the common villagers who are mainly poor agricultural labourers in these areas. Whenever there is a crop failure, or an accidental death occurs, these people, out of their traditional superstitious belief system, tend to blame an elderly woman or a single woman in their neighbourhood (whom they may be disliking for various reasons), and label them as witches and kill them. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, from 2000 to 2021, more than 3077 women were killed by common villagers who branded them as witches.       

Although there is no central law specifically banning witch-hunting, six states -Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and Assam have passed laws punishing witch-hunters in their respective territories. Despite stringent measures provided by these laws, villagers continue to violate them with impunity, as evident from a recent report emanating from Bihar. Three women members of a family of five were burnt alive in a village in Purnia on July 6, by their neighbours who suspected them of being witches. Three days ago, a child had died in the village. Soon after, the village head had called a meeting which was attended by about 200 people. They accused the three women of performing witchcraft, and unanimously decided to kill them.

When it comes to inter-personal relationships, these tribal villagers again impose penalties on couples whom they consider violating their traditional conservative norms. In July this year again, in Kangaramjodi village in Rayagada they accused a man and a woman of engaging in a relationship deemed taboo, and forced them to plough a field by tying a yoke around their shoulders. They were beaten with sticks and expelled from the village. In the same Rayagada district, recently around forty members of a tribal family were compelled by members of their community to tonsure their heads after a girl from their family married a man from a different caste. (Re: The Hindu, July 12, 2025). It is necessary to stress that all these tribal families come from poor agricultural background -a fact once again confirming that the downtrodden classes need not always be progressive and ready for a revolutionary change in their socio­economic status. Their behaviour is quite often deeply rooted in primordial beliefs and orthodox religious practices, from which their emancipation is going to be a long and arduous haul.

Mass Participation in Inter-Religious Conflicts
Moving from these caste and tribal-specific cases to the wider horizon of inter-religious conflicts in India, the picture becomes more horrendous. It is the com­mon people again from the majority Hindu community who participate in communal riots, killing Muslims, burning their homes and looting their shops. It is again the common youth from among the Muslim community who are often lured by Islamist fundamentalist forces to join the ranks of terrorists in places like Kashmir, where in Pahalgam the recent killings took place. While visiting Gujarat as a part of a fact-finding group to investigate the anti-Muslim pogrom that occurred there in the wake of the Godhra train incident, this writer found that along with the poor Hindu lower caste people, members of the tribal Dang community, who were even poorer than the Dalits, also joined the killing and looting sprees. It was sheer selfishness, devoid of any humanitarian concerns that moti­vated these downtrodden people.

Are The Indian Masses 'Noble Savages' Or 'Useful Idiots'?
Given the long record of popular complicity in violation of progressive laws, as described above, how do we evaluate our people? We cannot also deny the fact that sections of these same people quite often take progressive steps - like the recent farmers movement in north India. But barring such exceptions, the recent history of collective activities or mass interventions in India show alarming signs of wide spread popular hostility against religious minorities and Dalits and Adivasis. There is a rise in cases of mob lynching of cattle traders (who are mainly Muslims), and also of assaults on men and women who enter into inter-faith and inter-caste marriages. In the popular psyche today, there seems to be a reversal from its earlier acceptance of progressive laws and social reforms to a retreat to regres­sive customs that reinforce orthodox beliefs.

So does one define common people as "noble savages" (the term supposedly invented by the eighteenth century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau), or as "useful idiots" (the term usually attributed to Lenin who claimed success in the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia with the help of these people whom he mobilised, or 'used' to capture power). According to him, they were the vast segments of the people who served the interests of the Bolsheviks without shar­ing their ideology, but purely from self-interest.

To get back to Rousseau's definition, one finds that in the Indian popular psyche, most of the time it is the 'savage' that overpowers the 'noble,' as evi­dent from the rising incidents of communal riots and mob lynching. To turn to Lenin's definition, once again finds that the Indian people are inclined to be 'useful idiots' willing to be ma­nipulated by vested interests both in their social life and the political sphere.

When will the Indian people free themselves from these shackles of 'savagery' and 'idiocy,' and become 'noble' in their behaviour and be 'useful' to society by helping the implementation of progressive laws of social reforms? There is a need to launch a new civil disobedience movement in social sphere to disobey the old orthodox religious laws that reinforce superstitious beliefs and practices, and discriminate against women and Dalits and Adivasis.

Back to Home Page

Frontier Autumn Number
Vol 58, No. 14 - 17, Sep 28 - Oct 25, 2025