Uday Lal was forced to get down from the horse at his wedding procession
Highlights
- Seven people arrested for forcing Dalit groom to get down from his horse
- Six others have been booked under SC/ST Act, say police
- One person was seriously injured in clashes between two communities
Seven people have been arrested and another six booked under the SC/ST Act
for forcing a Dalit groom, in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district, to get down from the horse at his own wedding procession.
On April 29, the
baraat had started for the marriage scheduled next day but when the wedding procession reached the outskirts of the village a group of men stopped them.
The groom Uday Lal's relative told NDTV, "As soon as we entered the village around 10 people came and stopped us; they said there was a death in the village so you cannot go. So we took another route but there again a group of 15 people stopped us. They started throwing stones so we ran away. The police was also present as we had anticipated the situation and alerted them. The villagers threatened the police as well."
Uday Lal was forced to dismount his horse and a few relatives helped him escape. One of the relatives, Suresh Meghwanshi, who helped organize the wedding procession said, "I was hit very badly on my head and legs." He was treated at a hospital and later discharged.
One person was seriously injured in clashes between two communities in Bhilwara
"We have deployed police forces in Goverdhanpura village," said Paras Jain, the additional superintendent of police, Bhilwara. "The situation is peaceful now...we have arrested seven people for disturbing peace and booked another six under the SC/ST Act," Mr Jain added.
One person was seriously injured in the clashes between the two communities. "The
incident has deeply hurt the Dalit community in the village...we had invited almost 200 guests for the
baraat, who are now saying we insulted them," said the groom's family.
On Monday, the
baraat left for the bride's village 40 km away, with police protection. But for Uday Lal, the insult of not being able to ride a horse on his way to his wedding remains.
Rajasthan has among the worst records in atrocities against Dalits;
second only to Madhya Pradesh. In a reply to a question in the state assembly, the home minister admitted that in the past one year alone, 38 Dalit grooms were not allowed to ride a horse during their wedding procession.