Law, Caste, and the Quest for Justice: A Human Rights and Subaltern Reading of Jai Bhim (2021)

Abstract
This chapter examines Jai Bhim (2021), directed by T. J. Gnanavel, as a significant cinematic text that foregrounds caste oppression within the framework of law and human rights in contemporary India. Based on a real custodial violence case, the film narrates the struggle of an Irular tribal woman seeking justice for her missing husband. The chapter employs interdisciplinary approaches, drawing on the works of B. R. Ambedkar, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Michel Foucault to analyze the intersections of caste, law, power, and representation. Through close textual analysis, the chapter argues that Jai Bhim reconfigures cinema as a site of resistance, where legal discourse becomes a tool to challenge systemic oppression. The film not only critiques institutional failures but also reimagines the potential of law as an instrument of social justice.
Keywords: Caste, Human Rights, Subaltern Studies, Tamil Cinema, Law, Representation, Custodial Violence