THE UNTOUCHABLES

India 160 million people in India have been born outside any caste; they are called Untouchables and nobody is allowed to touch them for fear of infection! They call themselves "dalit" which means "broken, shattered people". Every day, two dalits are murdered, three dalit women are raped and two dalit homes are engulfed in flames, torched by members of the higher castes. In the province of Bihar entire villages of the "shattered" are wiped out by extreme right-wing paramilitaries of the higher castes. In other provinces, the Untouchables have no access to drinking water, cannot enter temples or use public transport. Even at police stations they are often asked to pay "admission"... The documentary records gruesome images of violence and discrimination; images of the trampling of every sense of human rights. Moreover, it reveals the extent of what international bodies describe as the "secret apartheid" of India. A stunning story of class and social discrimination which, with religion as an alibi, has reproduced itself for centuries. 60 MINUTES, AVAILABLE VERSIONS: Greek, English.