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We can often presume that democracy conveys qualities on a nation that have nothing to do with centuries of ingrained history. India may be the world’s fastest-growing democracy, with hi-tech businesses and work out-sourced from all over the globe, but underneath its shiny steel skin lies a set of cultural muscles – the deeply embedded caste system – that it may well want to keep hidden.

Michael Lawson, this film’s producer, director, composer and cameraman, conveys the human pain felt from those muscles’ powerful punch by women from the 250 million strong Dalit community (commonly known as the "untouchables"). 

With presenter Anjali Guptara, he travels through Hyderabad, Belgaum and Mumbai, showing how Dalit women suffer domestic violence, dowry crime and human trafficking.

Despite being outlawed in 1988, temple prostitution continues and Lawson goes past the denials to interview women in a village created for these ‘devadesi,’ who can be sold to the temple from as young as three or four years old.

The system conspires to strip the women of their self worth so that they almost come to accept rape as a fact of life.  Of the few cases that even reach court, 95% of rapes go unpunished.

What aggravates the disrespect given to these women from their low caste is the vicious kick of poverty, which pressures families to shed young girls into bonded labour, sex selective abortion and female infanticide.

As well as the main 45-minute film, this DVD, available from the Pipe Village Trust, has bonus features  that include a 19-minute interview with a Roman Catholic sister, who took on the system to bring cooperative status to a group of exploited domestic workers; a short interview about rescuing two young sisters from their dead parents’ debt and a photo gallery. Viewers who want to do something practical after viewing can visit Dalit Freedom Network.

Derek Walker