This Week in Human Rights History – The Belchi Massacre, 1977

This week in human rights history, we remember the Belchi massacre—a brutal episode of caste violence that unfolded in Bihar, India, in May 1977.

In the village of Belchi, eleven people were killed—eight Dalits and three members of the backward Sunar caste. They were targeted and murdered by upper-caste Kurmi landlords, some shot and others locked in huts and burned alive—for the simple act of asserting their dignity and rights.

The massacre was met with silence—until former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, then out of power, made a dramatic journey through floodwaters, including on the back of an elephant, to visit the grieving families. Her visit forced the nation to confront what had happened.

The legal response was rare: two of the perpetrators received the death penalty, and eleven others were sentenced to life imprisonment. It remains one of the few cases of capital punishment in a caste atrocity—an exception, not the rule.

But Belchi is more than a moment in history. It’s a window into the deep structures of caste, the violence used to enforce hierarchy, and the difficulty of achieving justice in a system that often protects the powerful.

Today, nearly five decades later, caste-based violence continues—sometimes in new forms, too often with the same impunity.

Belchi challenges us to remember, reflect, and act—to build a society where dignity and justice are not reserved for the few.