Sentence:  Then there is untouchability. . . . There are thousands of men and women like me who cling to Hinduism; because they believe that there is in it the amplest scope for mental, moral and spiritual expansion. This <WSD>bar sinister</WSD> put upon nearly sixty million human beings is a standing demonstration against that claim. Men like me feel that untouchability is no integral part of Hinduism. It is an excrescence. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A state or characteristic which is dishonorable or shameful; a stigma.