Odisha Continues to Face Severity of Dalit Oppression

The people of Odisha must be undergoing fatigue built on almost years and years of perpetuation of atrocities on Dalits in the state, which remains the sixth highest in incidents of oppression on Dalits in India. 

This is contrary to the notional assumption that the people of Odisha are God-fearing and their faith rests on the premises of Lord Jagannath, who, in essence, is believed to be a tribal deity, his origin dating back to over thousands of years. The deity is said to be the Patitapavan, which in essence connotes that He is for the Patits (the most oppressed).

Leaving aside the legends, numerous incidents of Dalit oppression have been reported in Odisha over the past four years, including acts of bestial violence, social boycotts, and judicial discrimination.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Odisha has the sixth highest cases of atrocities on Dalits. In 2020, there were 2,046 incidents, in 2021, the incidents reported stood at 2,327, in 2022, there were 2,902 incidents and in 2023, the reported incidents were 2,696, taking the total to 9,971 incidents in the past four years.     

Activists cite “poor implementation of protective laws and  low conviction rate for atrocities as factors the help perpetuating the problem”, Biswapriya Kanungo, an advocate and social activist fighting for the oppressed, told this writer.

What about people from the upper strata who fuel such acts of oppression? Kanungo says “this trend has exacerbated in the past one decade when the political system has shown an attitude of acquiescence to the practice of oppression of people from the lower strata or Dalits.”          

Reports and case studies from 2020 to 2025 document several incidents of Dalit oppression in Odisha, including brutal public humiliation, social boycotts, and denial of basic rights.

“Regardless of legal protection, that are so ineffective, a deep-seated caste-based discrimination persists, particularly in rural areas, where the incidents never come to light or rather get buried in obscurity”, laments Kanungo.

Most instances of Dalit oppression in Odisha are marked by physical violence and systemic discrimination. While there are laws in place to prevent such atrocities, Dalits have been facing persistent exploitation and social exclusion, especially in the rural interiors. This is compounded by an ineffective justice system that fails to protect victims. 

In June 2025, two Dalit men from Pana community were subjected to public humiliation coupled with physical assault by a mob in Kharigumma village in Ganjam district. They were falsely accused of cattle smuggling whereas they were transporting three cows for a wedding dowry. They were forced to drink drain water and crawl on their knees. The incident sparked widespread outrage. An incident that the National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognisance of. 

In 2012, in another cruel incident in Lothra area in Bolangir district, an upper-caste mob set fire to the houses of 30 Dalit families for a reason that cannot be condoned in any society.  

Intolerance Toward Assertiveness

After setting the houses on fire, the mob blocked the roads preventing the police and fire brigade from entering the village.

This violence was reportedly a backlash against the growing economic and political assertiveness of Dalits in the region.

In 2012, the NHRC issued a notice to the Odisha government regarding the social boycott of 13 Dalit families in Ganjam district. The families were denied access to shops, water sources, temples, and irrigation, and were also forced to wash clothes for a pittance.

Kanungo recollects that it was in 2008, when the upper-caste majority virtually massacred Dalits and tribals in a riot that claimed over 17 lives and rendered thousands homeless, Many families were forced to take shelter in camps worse than ghettoes, while a sizable population of the tribals remained holed up in the deep woods without anything for sustenance. That incident created a global ripple and panic.

The entire gamut of the social turmoil was allegedly created by the hands of Right-wing elements from the state and from Delhi who helped fuel the fire with hate-speeches and propaganda.

That brought a turning point politically, when the then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik broke his party, Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) nine-year-long political alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the grounds of inciting communal unrest.        

Systemic and Institutional Discrimination

In many parts of rural Odisha, Dalits are frequently denied access to public amenities, including temples, hotels, tea stalls, and public wells till date. During a 2016 incident in Nayagarh, upper-caste villagers refused water from a tanker because it had first served a Dalit hamlet.

In 2025, courts in Odisha drew criticism for imposing caste-discriminatory bail conditions, such as ordering Dalit men to perform manual scavenging work. This practice, which links bail to traditionally stigmatised occupations, has been condemned by legal experts everywhere in India.

Yet, this practice is still followed, as we see people getting into in filthy septic/sewer tanks digging out dirty sediments in neck deep toxic human waste.

Even with advancements, untouchability continues in many subtle and overt forms in the state. In some villages, Dalits are not served by village barbers or washermen.  

During the 2021 Cyclone, Yaas, Dalit communities in rural areas were reportedly ostracised and denied access to rehabilitation facilities, added Kanungo.

Inner Conflicts

Some Dalit sub-castes in Odisha, like the Doba and Kaibarta, have been found to practice discriminatory behaviour against lower-ranked Dalits, such as the Ganda community. This promotes perpetuation of the cycles of oppression within the marginalised community itself. 

Isolation in Death

An 80-year-old woman faced social isolation in death in Deogarh district, simply because five decades ago, she had married outside her caste. Her body was left abandoned till some local volunteers dared the oppressors and arranged her last rights with full respect.    

The act of compassion and courage shown by the volunteers drew appreciation from various quarters.

To top this, what can be more flabbergasting when a man of the country’s Chief Justice of India (CJI) stature faces humiliation from an advocate and the judiciary takes a week to arrive at a decision to initiate criminal contempt proceeding against Rajesh Kishore, who had tried to hurl a shoe at CJI B. R Gavai, who hails from a Dalit community.

It Does Not Stop at That!      

A study by Action-Aid showed that witch-branding remains a major issue in Odisha, disproportionately affecting various vulnerable groups, including Dalit women.

The study linked witch-branding to land grabbing and other motives, with many incidents resulting in the victim and their family being forced to leave their homes. Dalit women, particularly widows, allegedly practicing black magic, were identified as being highly vulnerable, said Kanungo. 

“For living as a human being, certain basic human and fundamental human rights are indispensable in a modern society. But it is very distressing that even after over 70 years of India’s Independence, and despite various constitutional safeguards, legislative frameworks and so on, such practices still continue,” Kanungo added. 

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha with over 40 years’ experience in the profession. The views are personal.