Caste As a Basis For Asylum: Advocating for Indian Refugee Seekers at the Borders

Caste As a Basis For Asylum: Advocating for Indian Refugee Seekers at the Borders

Meghana Bharadwaj*

I. Introduction

In Rajasthan, India, in August 2022, a teacher beat a nine-year-old Dalit boy to death for drinking water from a pot meant for people from upper castes.[1] The incident can hardly be described as isolated. Violence against Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables,” as well as other lower-caste individuals in the caste-based social hierarchy in India, is pervasive.[2]

The caste system originally divided and segregated Hindus into five hierarchical occupational groups by birth: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), Vaishyas (merchants), Shudras (laborers), and the “untouchables.”[3] Even though caste discrimination has been legally proscribed,[4] the caste system as a de facto social and political force continues to harm millions of people in India alone.[5] And its effects are global. Specifically, the rise of Hindu nationalistic politics in India has caused an influx of Indian refugee applications in the United States.[6] In the 2023 fiscal year, the U.S. saw a five-fold increase in undocumented Indian immigrants crossing the borders on foot, nearing 100,000 people.[7]

These applications represent unique issues. For example, the Southern border, accustomed to single individuals from Central America, is ill-prepared to process whole families from South Asia.[8] And the Northern border poses its own challenges, as seen in the tragic death of a Gujarati family in a blizzard after an eleven-hour foot journey, just thirteen feet from the border.[9]

As the immigration system encounters a rise in these family-based claims[10] from unfamiliar origin countries like India, it is now more crucial than ever for immigration attorneys to understand how caste can serve as a basis for asylum for these refugee seekers. Existing caste-based asylum jurisprudence in the United States, which is predominantly regarding inter-caste relationships, is not particularly helpful in crafting successful family claims and does not fully acknowledge the current Indian political climate of government oppression. This article draws on asylum cases in the Anglosphere to encourage immigration attorneys to advocate that clients who have experienced caste-and-gender-based violence or caste-based persecution in educational settings are members of “particular social group(s)” (“PSG”), worthy of asylum. These PSGs stand on sturdier footing in the face of predictable objections to caste-based claims more broadly.

II. Legal Framework

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (hereinafter “Refugee Convention”) defines a refugee as someone who has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and who is “unable . . . or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”[11] In 2002, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued General Recommendation XXIX, interpreting racial discrimination on the basis of “descent” in Article 1(1) of that treaty as including caste-based discrimination.[12] The Indian government has consistently resisted this characterization, claiming that the caste system predates racial thinking.[13]

The United States adopted the Refugee Convention’s provisions in the 1980 Refugee Act, expanding refugee status to include survivors of past persecution.[14] Persecution requires proving (1) serious state or private harm on account of one of the five Convention grounds and (2) failure of state protection.[15] Past persecution creates a rebuttable presumption of future persecution, overcome by changed country conditions or the possibility of internal relocation.[16]

In the United States specifically, PSG requires a showing that the proposed group (1) shares a common, immutable characteristic,[17] (2) is defined with particularity in that there are cognizable boundaries on group membership,[18] and (3) is socially distinct, in that the group is meaningfully recognized amidst their community.[19]

III. Introduction to the Caste System and Gender and School-Based Caste Violence

The caste system originated in Hinduism over 3,000 years ago.[20] Over time, the original five castes separated and subdivided into over 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes. [21] The system also transcended religions, with Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh communities also identifying with a caste as well.[22] Castes observed segregation in the way they lived, interacted, ate, and married.[23] Though evidence of such caste-based practices exists throughout Indian history, some argue that the way we understand caste today—the way caste operates as a dominant force in modern Indian life—is a result of colonial rule.[24]

In 1951, the Indian Constitution formally outlawed discrimination based on caste.[25] India eventually passed laws affirming formal equality and promulgating affirmative action schemes in education, government jobs, and electoral office[26] for “Scheduled Castes” (which includes the lowest castes and predominantly consists of Dalits),[27] “Scheduled Tribes” (which includes indigenous groups historically outside the caste system),[28] and in 1989, “Socially and Educationally Backwards Classes” (or “Other Backwards Classes” which includes other historically disadvantaged castes between the upper castes and those within the Scheduled Caste category).[29] The President, working with State governors, determines which castes and tribes belong in each category and maintains a centralized list.[30] Despite these progressive laws, the implementation has been weak and inconsistent.[31] The caste system is so engrained that widespread marginalization, exclusion, and violence against lower castes persist. The state is often willing to turn a blind eye both to private actors and corrupt state actors.[32]

According to the 2011 Indian Census, approximately 201 million people fall into the Scheduled Caste category,[33] about 16.6% of India’s total population.[34]  Dalits make up 166.6 million of this category.[35] However, it is important to note that these numbers are likely underestimations, as the 2011 Census precluded Christians and Muslims from identifying as Scheduled Caste, and census enumerators independently verified and removed those who identified as Scheduled Caste or Tribe but did not name a caste or tribe that belonged to the centralized list.[36] Furthermore, the 2011 Census did not measure Other Backwards Classes.[37] One Pew Research Center survey found that without the religious limitations, 25% of Indians surveyed identified as Scheduled Caste, and another 35% identified as Other Backwards Classes.[38] In addition to using Scheduled Caste, Dalit, or Other Backward Classes to describe these specific subcategories, this article may use “lower caste” as a catchall to include all of the above.

Stories of the particular gender-based sexual violence, underenforcement, and retaliation faced by lower-caste girls are harrowing.[39] The 2022 Human Rights Country Report for India found that the devadasi system, a ritualistic prostitution system that commonly resulted in rape, sexual abuse, or trafficking at the hands of temple personnel and upper-caste members, almost exclusively targeted Dalit and lower-caste girls.[40] Data suggests that at least ten Dalit women or girls report being raped every day on average in India.[41] This is likely a grave underestimation given victims often fear retaliation or further violence from law enforcement institutions and upper-caste members.[42] Indeed, sexual assault against Dalits is essentially sanctioned by the Indian state, with less than 2% of rape cases reported by Dalit women resulting in convictions compared to 25% reported by women generally.[43]

School-based discrimination against lower-caste youths is also a well-documented phenomena.[44] A study found that 62% of Other Backwards Classes children and 61% of Scheduled Caste children reported violence by teachers.[45] The 2022 Human Rights Country Report frames this discrimination in rather mild terms, noting that Dalit students have been forced to use separate facilities or do labor for the school.[46] But lower-caste youth face egregious and deathly persecutory harm in the school system, with some Dalit students being driven to suicide.[47] Despite these realities, views condemning affirmative action for lower-caste youth in universities and jobs are widespread.[48]

As will be explored below, these two subsets of persecutory harm, gender-based and school-based caste violence, may make strong PSG claims for refugee status.

IV. Caste as a PSG For Indian Refugee-Seeking Families at the U.S. Border  

Many cases in the United States have recognized caste as a cognizable social group,[49] and others have recognized caste-based harm as a potential qualifying source of persecution for asylum.[50] Indeed, the immutable characteristic, particularity, and social distinctness requirements for PSG are self-evident even in the broad PSG configuration of “being Dalit” because Dalits “share a common characteristic that cannot be changed and have a distinct identity which is perceived as different by the surrounding society.”[51] Inescapable identifiers like last names ensure that caste status remains strong and visible.[52]

However, with the influx of claims from India, courts will likely have an eye towards narrowing the availability of PSG for general caste-membership claims. Indeed, this has been done before. U.S. courts have rejected PSGs as too encompassing, despite size not being a formal requirement for a PSG claim.[53] Because over 65% of Indians identify as members of a lower caste,[54] courts can use the widely expansive nature of an entire caste to reject claims. Therefore, it is important to configure narrower caste-based PSGs so that lower-caste people can more successfully advocate for refugee status.

A. Gender-Based Violence against Lower-Caste Women and Girls

Lower-caste women or girls who have experienced or who fear gender-based sexual violence would meet the PSG requirements. Along with caste, gender, as many courts have recognized,[55] is a “prototypical immutable characteristic.”[56] Furthermore, the widespread and ostracizing practice of gender violence aimed at Dalit women ensures that group members are particular and recognizable by their community.

Existing case law already supports this conclusion. In Biswakarma v. Holder, the Ninth Circuit recognized that the “serious assault of [petitioner’s] wife suffered at the hands of upper-caste members” was “important to his claim of persecution  .  .  . .”[57] Courts have also found a lack of state protection, noting that India remains “apathetic to the point of maintaining a de facto policy of discrimination and violence against women.”[58]

B. School-Based Discrimination

A PSG based on the experience or fear of caste-based discrimination in schools would also easily satisfy the PSG sub-elements of immutability, particularity, and social distinctness. Along with caste, age, including being a school-aged or school-attending child, is immutable because even though age changes over time, one cannot control their age.[59] Furthermore, children are especially unable to escape socioeconomic and physical forces, or special laws and requirements placed on them due to their age.[60] Finally, because caste-based affirmative action programs rely on children and families self-identifying and receiving government certification, the group would be particular and socially distinct.

The case law indicates some consideration of caste-based harm experienced in schools. For example, the Third Circuit recognized that a Dalit petitioner’s experience of repeated threats and assault by upper caste members during his schooling amounted to past persecution.[61] Similarly, a New Zealand Court found persecutory harm when Dalit applicants experienced physical beatings, had books torn by upper-caste students, and had to bring their own water to school.[62] One Canadian decision noted, “[c]hildren belonging to oppressed caste groups . . . have alleged to be victims of abuse or unfair treatment by teachers, school principals and peers.”[63]

C. Youth in Family-Based Claims

The prior cases demonstrate how Dalits and lower-caste adults may be able to establish past persecution based on the two proposed PSGs of gender and school-based harm. But in the context of an entire family seeking refugee status, lower-caste youth can and should make these claims too. For example, in SZNCY v. Minister for Immigration & Border Protection, a lower-caste couple and their daughter sought refugee protection in Australia based partly on the mother’s membership in an “other backwards caste” in Kerala, India (PSG).[64] The Court noted that the daughter had not made any claims of caste-based persecution independent of her parents.[65] Had the family articulated the harms that lower-caste girls and students in Kerala[66] and across the country face, they may have had a better chance of securing asylum.

Another case in Canada involved an unaccompanied nine-year old applicant from India who had been abandoned by her “radical Hindu” father who did not want daughters and who physically abused her.[67] Even though the youth had only made a claim based on gender-based persecution, the Appeals Board remanded for a finding regarding how the youth’s minority caste would be treated in Punjab.[68] Here too, the Court’s opinion suggests that youths’ refugee claims must be made robustly and intersectionally.

V. Country Conditions and Internal Relocation

While children are generally not expected to internally relocate, lower-caste adults who seek asylum based on past caste-based harm must overcome likely rebuttals regarding improved country conditions or the possibility of internal relocation. Many cases demonstrate a willingness to reject Dalit peoples’ asylum applications by pointing to India’s affirmative action programs and formal legal protections, or evidence that discrimination is not as widespread in metropolitan areas.[69] Furthermore, courts focus on India’s size “with numerous states”[70] as evidence that relocation is possible. Practitioners should rebut these burden-shifting arguments by demonstrating how the current political regime has exacerbated caste issues.[71] Furthermore, the limited scope of the two proposed PSGs would make relocation less plausible given gender-based and school-based violence are well-documented throughout the country, even in urban areas.[72]

VI. Conclusion

Practitioners face no small feat in representing undocumented Indian families at the U.S. border. In light of emerging patterns in the case law and a court’s likely skepticism of broad PSG groups, immigration attorneys should dig deep into the caste-based harm their clients have faced, keep abreast of Indian political news to rebut presumptions about country conditions, and creatively formulate cognizable and enduring PSG claims based on caste that work for the whole family. Doing so would help respond to the pressing needs of Indian migrants at the border and take an important step in actualizing the promises of the Refugee Convention.

*The author would like to thank Professors Nancy Kelly and John Willshire for their guidance and support throughout this article writing process.

[1] Hanan Zaffar, Violence Against Marginalised Castes Increases in India, Fair Planet (Sept. 18, 2022), https://www.fairplanet.org/editors-pick/violence-against-marginalised-castes-increases-in-india/.

[2] See Minority Rights Group International, State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016, at 133 (Peter Grant ed., July 2016) (calling the caste system a contributing factor to targeted violence in the country). See also Minority Rights Group International, Dalits in India, https://minorityrights.org/communities/dalits/ (noting how “mob violence against Dalit communities” is still frequent and sexual violence against Dalit women persists).

[3] See U.K. Home Off., Country Policy and Information Note India: Religious minorities and Scheduled Castes and Tribes, §9.1.2 (Nov. 2021). Untouchables’ hereditary occupation was “manual scavenging,” which involved removing human excreta, grave digging, street sweeping, and bonded labor. Id.

[4] See India Const. art. 15, amended by The Constitution (One Hundred and Fifth Amendment) Act, 2021.

[5] See Alex Ninian, India’s Untouchables: The Dalits, 290 Contemp. Rev. 186, 186–92 (May 2008).

[6] See Suraj Girijashanker, The World is Already Recognising Refugees from the ‘Hindu Rashtra,’ The Wire (Jan. 07, 2020), https://thewire.in/rights/the-world-is-already-recognising-refugees-from-the-hindu-rashtra.

[7] See Sakshi Venkatraman, What’s behind the rise in undocumented Indian immigrants crossing US borders on foot, NBC News (Nov. 14, 2023, 1:35PM), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/rise-undocumented-indian-immigrants-crossing-us-borders-foot-rcna123874.

[8] See id.

[9] See Sakshi Venkatraman, Family who froze to death crossing into U.S. on foot shows realities behind South Asian immigration, NBC News (Feb. 11, 2022, 9:53AM), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/family-froze-death-crossing-us-foot-shows-realities-south-asian-immigr-rcna14627.

[10] See John Gramlich, Migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border hit a record high at the end of 2023, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Feb. 15, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/15/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023/ (noting that the number of encounters with people traveling in families at the Southern Border almost doubled in 2023 from the year prior).

[11] The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, art. 1., July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137.

[12] David Keane, Caste-Based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law 9 (2007).

[13] Id. at 11.

[14] See Deborah E. Anker, Law of Asylum in the United States, §1.2 (2021­–2022 ed.).

[15] See id. at §2.1.

[16] See 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(B)(1)(i) (2024); Ordonez-Quino v. Holder, 760 F.3d 80, 87 (1st Cir. 2014).

[17] See Matter of Acosta, 19 I. & N. Dec. 211, 233 (B.I.A. 1985).

[18] See Matter of S-E-G, 24 I. & N. Dec. 579, 584 (B.I.A. 2008).

[19] See Matter of M-E-V-G, 26 I. & N. Dec. 227, 237 (B.I.A. 2014). Even within the United States, the particularity and socially-distinct requirements are not recognized by all circuits and are widely criticized. See Anker, supra note 14, at §5:43.

[20] What is India’s Caste System?, BBC News (June 19, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616.

[21] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.2.

[22] See Aseem Hasnain & Abhilasha Srivatsava, Caste pervasive across Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, and other faiths, The Jerusalem Post (Apr. 28, 2022, 10:55AM), https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-705321; Neha Sahgal et al., Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation, Attitudes about Caste, Pew Rsch. ctr. (June 29, 2021) (stating “nearly all Indians today identify with a caste, regardless of their religion”), https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/attitudes-about-caste/.

[23] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.3.

[24] See generally Nicholas Dirks, Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India (2001) (arguing that caste’s prominent current operative force in Indian society is not a relic from India’s ancient past but created by colonial imperatives); Sanjoy Chakravorty, Viewpoint: How the British reshaped India’s caste system, BBC News (June 18, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48619734 (arguing that the social categories of caste as “perceived in modern-day India were developed during the British colonial rule” and had little role in early Indian life).

[25] India Const. art. 15, amended by The Constitution (One Hundred and Fifth Amendment) Act, 2021.

[26] Id. at arts. 40, 330, 332, 335. See also Still Humans Still Here, A Commentary on the April 2015 and February 2015 Country Information and Guidance Reports Issued on India 57 (Aug. 6. 2015); U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §2.4.22–§2.4.24, §9.2.

[27] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.8; India Const. arts. 338, 341.

[28] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.5; India Const. arts. 338A, 342.

[29] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.4, India Const. arts. 338B, 340, 342A.

[30] See India Const. arts. 341, 342, 342A.

[31] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.3.4.

[32] See Minority Rights Group International, State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2016, at 29 (Peter Grant ed., July 2016).

[33] See UK Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.1.6.

[34] See id. at §2.4.3, §9.1.7.

[35] See id. at §9.1.8.

[36] See Kelsey Jo Starr & Neha Sahgal, Measuring Caste in India, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (June 29, 2021), https://www.pewresearch.org/decoded/2021/06/29/measuring-caste-in-india/.

[37] Id.

[38] Id.

[39] See U.K. Home Off., Country policy and information note: women fearing gender-based violence, India, §5.7 (Nov. 2022) (noting how Dalit women and girls are disproportionally victimized precisely because of their caste and finding a significant rise in caste-based rape reports since 2019); Press Release: India’s Government Must Do More To End Caste-Based Sexual Violence, Say Dalit Women’s Rights Activists, Equal. Now (Aug. 31, 2021), https://www.equalitynow.org/press_release/indias_government_must_do_more_to_end_caste_based_sexual_violence_say_dalit_womens_rights_activists/ (analyzing 70 caste-based rape cases from 15 Indian states and finding pervasive issues with access to justice for Dalits); Abhilasha Jha, Caste Based Violence in India, Finology (Oct. 7, 2020), https://blog.finology.in/protests-and-riots/caste-based-violence-in-india (documenting numerous cases of sexual violence against Dalit girls, noting grave “failures in the filing, investigating, and pursuing” of crimes against lower castes); Akanksha Singh, India: Why Justice Eludes many Dalit Survivors of Sexual Violence, Al Jazeera (June 8, 2022), https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/8/india-why-justice-eludes-many-dalit-survivors-of-sexual-violence.

[40] See U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Democracy, H.R., and Lab., 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India 40 (2022) (https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/india); see also UNICEF, Structural Violence Against Children in South Asia, 27 (July 1, 2018), https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/structural-violence-against-children-south-asia (“these practices seek to legitimize the prostitution of lower-caste girls through religious justification.”); Jacqueline Bhabha & Wendy A. Young, Through A Child’s Eyes: Protecting The Most Vulnerable Asylum Seekers, 75 Interpreter Releases 757, 761 n.36 (1988) (recognizing the devadasi system in India as a form of persecution specific to children that would constitute a PSG claim).

[41] See U.K. Home Off., supra note 3, at §9.3.4.

[42] Id.

[43] See Minority Rights Group International, supra note 32, at 134.

[44] See e.g., BR Ambedkar’s Appropriation: A Look At Caste-Based Crime in Recent Past, Outlook India (Mar. 03, 2023), https://www.outlookindia.com/national/br-ambedkar-appropriation-a-look-at-caste-based-crime-in-recent-past-news-230395 (documenting a school-based crime where a teacher was accused of beating a 15-year old Dalit boy to death for misspelling a word); Amrit Dhillon, “A Violence No Autopsy can reveal:” Deadly Cost of India’s campus prejudice, The Guardian (July 2, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jul/02/a-violence-no-autopsy-can-reveal-the-deadly-cost-of-indias-campus-prejudice (documenting widespread prejudice and social ostracization practices against Dalit students at universities, including requiring them to wear identifying wristbands).

[45] See UNICEF, supra note 40, at 32.

[46] See U.S. Dep’t of State, supra note 40, at 40.

[47] See e.g., Dhillon, supra note 44.

[48] See UNICEF, supra note 40, at 32.

[49] See, e.g., Swaran v. Lynch, 616 F. App’x. 166, 166 (5th Cir. 2015) (recognizing petitioner’s lower “Ramdasia Sikh caste” constituted a PSG); K-S-, AXXX XXX 148 (B.I.A. Apr. 19, 2017) (stating that “[o]rdinarily, caste would qualify as a particular social group.”). Accessed on Winograd Index.

[50] See, e.g., Kumar v. Lynch, 633 F. App’x. 366, 368 (9th Cir. 2015) (finding membership in both Valmiki and Mahasha castes [Dalit] as rendering petitioner “equally vulnerable to mistreatment”); A-A-K-S-, AXXX XXX 196 (B.I.A. Aug. 7, 2015) (finding that the applicant was persecuted for membership in Charji caste when he was unlawfully detained, physically abused, and faced egregious confinement conditions by Indian prison officers upon discovering that he had tried to change castes). Accessed on Winograd Index.

[51] U.K. Home. Off., supra note 3, at §2.3.2.

[52] See id. at §9.1.4.

[53] See Anker, supra note 14, at §5:46; see generally Peter C. Godfrey, Defining the Social Group in Asylum Proceedings: The Expansion of the Social Group to Include A Broader Class of Refugees, 3 J.L. & Pol’y 257 (1994).

[54] Sahgal et al., supra note 22.

[55] See Matter of Acosta, 19 I. & N. Dec. 211, 233 (B.I.A. 1985); Deborah anker, Law of Asylum in the United States, §5:46 (2023 ed.) (collecting cases throughout the circuits that found gender as an immutable characteristic).

[56] Mohammed v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 797 (9th Cir. 2005).

[57] Biswakarma v. Holder, 583 F. App’x. 638, 639 (9th Cir. 2014).

[58] Bhatt v. Att’y. Gen., 608 F. App’x. 93, 97 (3d Cir. 2015).

[59] See Matter of S-E-G, 24 I. & N. Dec. 579, 583­–84 (B.I.A. 2008).

[60] See Anker, supra note 55, at §5:63.

[61] See D.W. v. Raufer, 839 F. App’x. 723, 725 (3d Cir. 2020).

[62] See Refugee Appeal No’s. 76148 & 76149, New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Auth., at ¶21, ¶40, ¶81­–83, 24 June, 2008.

[63] RAD File No. TB9-12876, [2020] R.A.D.D. No. 4813, ¶23.

[64] See SZNCY v. Minister for Immigration & Border Prot. [2018] FCA 691, ¶2­–13 (17 May 2018) (Austl.).

[65] See id. at ¶21­–32.

[66] See, e.g., Beating of 3 Paraya boys in Kozhikode unpack existing caste-violence in Kerala, TwoCircles.Net (Sept. 23, 2020), https://twocircles.net/2020sep23/439122.html;“They Don’t Want Their Kids to Sit With Dalits:” Kerala School Struggles to Break Cast Barriers, The News Minute (June 09, 2015), https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/they-don-t-want-their-kids-sit-dalits-kerala-school-struggles-break-caste-barriers-30352; Four held for gangrape of a Dalit girl in Kerala, The New Indian Express (Oct. 20, 2021), https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2021/oct/20/four-held-for-gangrape-of-a-dalit-girl-in-kerala-2373655.html.

[67] RAD File No. VC0-02016, [2021] RADD No. 1858, [2021] DSAR no. 1858, ¶3.

[68] See id. at ¶6, ¶20.

[69] See, e.g., D.W. v. Raufer, 839 F. App’x. 723, 727 (3d. Cir. 2020) (noting that India’s affirmative action programs, prohibition on discrimination, and lower levels of violence against Dalits in urban areas as sufficient to overcome the well-founded fear of persecution); S 1983 of 2003 v. Minister for Immigr. & Multicultural Aff. [2007] FMCA 99 (18 Jan. 2007) (finding that the petitioner’s state had generally better conditions for Dalits and the political party that killed petitioner’s father and burned down his shop was no longer as politically powerful).

[70] In Re: Prakashchandra Rameshchandra Patel, No. AXXX XX1 745 – MEM, 2018 WL 3416225, *2 (B.I.A. May 29, 2018).

[71] See, e.g., Jeffrey Gettleman et al., Under Modi, a Hindu Nationalist Surge Has Further Divided India, N. Y. Times (Apr. 11, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/asia/modi-india-elections.html.

[72] See Still Humans Still Here, supra note 26, for a thorough analysis of the particular internal relocation challenges of lower caste people.