Dalit Wedding Procession Attacked, Groom Forced Off Horse

A Dalit wedding procession was allegedly attacked by members of the upper caste, in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara on 29 April

A dalit wedding procession. Image for representation.

(Photo: ANI)

A Dalit wedding procession was allegedly attacked and the groom forced off the horse, by villagers in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district on Sunday, 29 April.

The people who attacked the procession belonged to the upper caste, and were outraged that the groom was riding a horse, The Wire reported.

The incident, ANI reported, took place in Bhilwara's Govardhanpura village on Sunday.

The groom’s older brother said in a statement to The Wire:

After we decided that we will bring a horse for the procession of my younger brother Uday Lal, we started getting threats from the village. We submitted an application to the police and they gave us security. But during the actual attack, they did nothing.

Bhanwar Lal Regar, groom’s older brother

ANI reported that people from the village stopped the groom after he left his house on the horse, with his family members, as a part of the wedding procession.

The police, in a statement to The Indian Express, denied the victim’s family’s claims of inaction.

It’s wrong to say that the police didn’t do anything. The attack took place but we controlled the situation and prevented it from getting worse. We have taken seven people under preventive custody. They’ll be arrested later under the relevant sections. 

Paras Jain, Additional Superintendent of Police, Bhilwara

The police also said that an FIR has been lodged under the IPC, under section 323, for voluntarily causing hurt, section 341, for wrongful restraint, and section 354, for assault to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, along with other sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

(With inputs from ANI, The Wire, and The Indian Express)