Equal Protection Against Any Discrimination

(Amrit Pal Singh ‘Amrit’)

Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations)

What if a white (Caucasian) person bullies a black person for being a black? Surely, the white man in this case is a racist. No doubt at all.

But, what if a black person bullies a white (Caucasian) person for being a white? That too is a case of racism.

All are equal before the law. It means that the law cannot be prejudiced against or in favour of a particular race, gender, religion, caste, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation etc.

However, in practical we see that many countries have biased laws.

For instance, In India any person of so-called ‘upper class’ can be put on trial and punished under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view. However, there is no special law, if a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of so-called ‘upper’ Castes.

Under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in India, the criminal liability can only be established if the offence is committed by a person who is not a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe against a person who belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.

For example, in the state of Punjab, India, ‘Bazigar’ and ‘Balmiki’ both are official scheduled castes. If a fight takes place between a ‘Bazigar’ and a ‘Balmiki’, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 cannot be invoked against any of the both parties. On the other hand, in case of similar fight between a ‘Balmiki’ and a person belonging to other caste, a ‘Jat’ for instance’, charges can be framed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against the accused belonging to no-scheduled caste/tribe (‘Jat’ in this case) along with other under sections of Indian penal code.

It has wrongly been assumed by many that offences of atrocities are made against the members of Scheduled castes and tribes by the so-called upper castes only. It has wrongly been taken to be true that such atrocities are never made against the members of so-called upper castes.

There are many cases where white victims (Caucasians) were harassed, physically attacked and even killed by non-white racists.

Many non-white men and women think that they are superior to whites. A person with this mindset can commit a racist crime against a white person.

The Article 7 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: –

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Every person has the right to protection of the law against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination, whether s/he belongs to a so-called upper caste or a scheduled caste/tribe, whether s/he is a black or white (Caucasian). The law shall be the same for everyone; it should be applied in the same way to all.