Rajasthan police on Wednesday escorted the ‘bindori’ (pre-marriage procession) of a 22-year-old Dalit bridegroom who apprehended an attack from upper caste men for riding a horseback in Kotadi village, about 120 km from the district headquarters in Ajmer.
There have been several such cases in the state where cops escorted Dalit grooms to avoid any backlash of the upper castes.
According to police, Chandra Prakash, who belongs to the Bairwa community that is categorised as a scheduled caste, was to take out the procession on Wednesday, a day before his marriage.
“We received a complaint from the bridegroom’s father that the upper caste Jat community might obstruct the bindori. To avoid any untoward incident, we deployed a police party (for the function),” said Rameshwar Gurjar, tehsildar of Gulabpura area, under which the village falls.
No formal complaint was registered against any of the upper caste members, he added.
According to the local Dalit community members, it is the first time that a Dalit groom has ridden a horseback in the village.
“It became possible only because of the presence of police and intervention by the tesildar,” said Ramswaroop Bairwa, the groom’s father.
{{/usCountry}}“It became possible only because of the presence of police and intervention by the tesildar,” said Ramswaroop Bairwa, the groom’s father.
{{/usCountry}}The groom told HT that it was very painful to see that untouchability existed in the country even after 68 years of Independence.
“Dalits are considered as the people who have no rights even over small pleasures of life,” he said.