On the 17 July 1985, a horrific incident took place in the village of Karamchedu, Andhra Pradesh, an incident that would forever alter the lives of Dalits in the region. The police described it as a ‘riot,’ but what unfolded was a cold-blooded massacre of Dalit men and women by a group of upper-caste Kammas, armed with axes, sticks, and spears. While forty years have passed, the Karamchedu Massacre remains a stark reminder of the brutal caste system that continues to plague India.
Karamchedu: A Divided Village
Karamchedu, a village in Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh, was home to about 10,000 people. Of this population, 6,000 were from the Kamma community, one of the wealthiest and most powerful castes in the area. Many Kammas, large landowners, controlled vast stretches of fertile land, while the remaining population comprised people from various marginalised communities, including Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), also known as ‘Dalits.’ The Dalits, the lowest caste in the Indian hierarchy, were confined to the 16th ward of the village and forced to live in segregated and impoverished conditions.
The Kammas, who had wealth and political power, held significant sway over the village’s social and economic landscape. And so, they exploited Dalit labourers working on their farms, paid them less than the minimum wage and subjected them to harsh, violent treatment. This stark inequality created an atmosphere of oppression, where the Dalits, though essential to the functioning of the village, were treated as ‘inferior.’
The Catalyst for Violence: A Dispute Over Water
The tragic events that led to the Karamchedu Massacre were set into motion by an argument over access to drinking water. In the village, there were two separate water tanks: one well-maintained tank for the upper-caste Hindus and another poorly maintained tank for the Dalits.
On the day before the violence broke out, a Kamma man named Srinivasa Rao washed his buffalo near the steps of the Dalit water tank and drained the dirty water into the tank from which the Dalits drank water. A young Dalit boy, Katti Chandraiah, who saw this objected to this and expressed his concern. Srinivasa Rao was enraged, and this small act of protest led to a heated confrontation. Rao and another Kamma man threatening the boy. The situation further escalated when Munnangi Suvaartha, a woman from the Madiga caste, intervened to protect the boy.
Both Suvaartha and Chandraiah were abused and assaulted; the Kamma men beat them with ropes used for whipping buffaloes. However, Suvaartha, in an act of self-defense, grabbed the rope and raised her vessel to protect herself. This confrontation set off a chain of events that would culminate in the massacre the following day.
A Pre-planned Attack: The Escalation of Violence
That evening, Srinivasa Rao, enraged by the altercation, gathered a group of twenty men and went to Suvaartha’s house. He dragged her out and started beating her. However, with the intervention of another Dalit man, Pandiri Nageswara Rao, the situation was defused, and the group of Kammas left.
But the matter did not end there. The next day, a meeting of Kamma landlords was held to discuss Suvaartha’s ‘misbehaviour.’ Later that day, they called for her father-in-law, Munnangi Ankaiah, to come and explain the situation. Ankaiah, who worked for a Kamma landlord, arrived at his employer’s house. But upon arrival, a group of Kamma men forcibly tied him up, dragged him, took him to a cattle shed, attacked him with an axe and brutally murdered him.
Simultaneously, a large mob of Kamma landlords, estimated to number between 2,000 and 4,000 people, began their attack on the Dalit households. Armed with sticks, spears, and axes, they surrounded the Dalit homes, and brutally assaulted men. They raped and killed Dalit women, and destroyed the Dalit homes. Many Dalits attempted to flee. Several ran through the fields or hid under haystacks, but the mob relentlessly pursued them and chased them for over seven kilometres.
Some Dalits found temporary refuge at a church compound in the nearby town of Chirala, but the relief was short-lived. The municipal aid that was initially provided to the survivors ceased after only a few days, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Police Inaction and Complicity
Despite the scale of the violence, the police were largely inactive. Reports suggest that police camps were set up in the village, but no meaningful action was taken to stop the killings. Even more troubling, on July 22, just five days after the massacre, a Madiga woman was assaulted by an upper-caste man. However, once again, the police failed to intervene.
The Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, which investigated the massacre, concluded that the violence was not a spontaneous riot but a carefully planned and orchestrated attack by the Kamma landlords. The dispute over the drinking water tank may have acted as a catalyst, but the underlying causes of the violence were rooted in the deeply entrenched caste system, economic exploitation, and the unequal distribution of land in the village.
The Aftermath: Legal Struggles and Continued Injustice
In the aftermath of the massacre, the Dalit community rallied for justice. The event sparked outrage and led to the formation of the Dalita Mahasabha, a movement founded by Dalit activist Kathi Padma Rao and human rights lawyer Bojja Tarakam. This movement sought to raise awareness about the violence faced by Dalits and advocate for their rights.
However, the legal journey for justice was long and arduous. In 1994, a lower court in Guntur convicted forty-six individuals for their involvement in the massacre. It sentenced them to three years in prison and imposed fines on several others. However, the case was appealed, and in 1998, the Andhra Pradesh High Court overturned the convictions.
And so, the victims were forced to take their case to the Supreme Court, which, in 2008, finally ruled that the main accused would be sentenced to life imprisonment, while twenty-nine others would receive three years in jail. By this time, many of the accused had already died, and justice remained elusive for the survivors and their families.
Caste-based Violence in Modern India
Although forty years have passed since the Karamchedu Massacre, caste-based violence remains a pervasive issue in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India’ report from 2019, crimes against Dalits and Scheduled Tribes (ST) have increased by 7.3 per cent and 26.5 per cent, respectively, in recent years. In 2019 alone, there were 45,935 reported cases of crimes against Dalits and 8,257 crimes against tribal people, illustrating the ongoing marginalisation and violence faced by these communities.
The Karamchedu Massacre stands as a tragic symbol of this persistent problem, highlighting the deep-seated prejudices and social inequalities that continue to affect millions of Dalits across the country. Despite some legal and social advancements, the fight for Dalit rights remains far from over.
A Continuing Struggle for Justice and Equality
The Karamchedu Massacre serves as a stark reminder of the violence that continues to be perpetrated against Dalits in India. While there have been some legal victories, such as the sentencing of the main accused in 2008, the broader issue of caste-based discrimination and violence remains deeply entrenched in Indian society.
For the survivors of Karamchedu and other Dalits who continue to face oppression, the struggle for justice, equality, and dignity continues. The Karamchedu Massacre is not just a tragedy from the past but a call to action for a more just and equal society where caste does not determine one’s worth or treatment.
The fight for Dalit rights is a long and difficult one. However, it must continue until the legacy of atrocities like the Karamchedu Massacre is consigned to the history books and caste-based violence is eradicated for good.
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