Top officials attend Dalit marriage in Ratlam to avoid May 10-like incident

The Ratlam collector and the superintendent of police were surprise guests at a dalit marriage procession in Nigrun where a dalit groom was allegedly attacked by upper caste people who disliked his riding a horse to the bride’s place on May 10.

The Ratlam collector and the superintendent of police were surprise guests at a Dalit marriage procession in Nigrun where a dalit groom was allegedly attacked by upper caste people who disliked his riding a horse to the bride’s place on May 10.

The-Dalit-groom-in-Negrun-village-was-escorted-to-his-wedding-venue-by-collector-BC-Borkar-and-superintendent-of-police-Avinash-Sharma-HT-photo

The groom had to tie the knot wearing a helmet then.

But, this time the marriage was solemnised without any unceremonious intervention by the upper caste people, not because the marriage was attended by the top district officers but because the entire Nigrun, which is 70 kilometres from Ratam, was fortified with a strong police presence to avert recurrence of the earlier incident.

Besides, sources claimed that the security arrangements were made by the district administration to save an embarrassing coverage by the media which had prominently carried the May 10 incident.

The marriage procession was carried out on Thursday evening with Ratlam collector B Chandrashekar Borkar and SP Avinash Sharma being the guests, who remained there till the end.

Sharma said, “We are also considering issuing arms licenses to a few dalits for the purpose of self-defence.”

Ratlam district collector Borkar said, “Our presence helped build confidence among the villagers. We have asked upper caste people to surrender their arms license and arms.”

On May 10, more than 100 upper caste people had attacked a marriage procession in which six persons, including one naib tehsildar and police constables were injured.

Following the incident, Alote police arrested 32 persons and registered a case against more than 72 persons.