Defiance Pays: Dalit Man Wins Fight to Take Baraat Through Village

The Thakur community had objected to a Dalit man’s wedding procession in Kasganj, UP, citing ‘tradition’.

A Dalit man from western Uttar Pradesh scored a significant victory over casteism when he was ‘allowed’ to take out a procession (baraat) for his wedding through his to-be-bride's Thakur-dominated village in Kasganj district.

The upper-caste Thakurs of the Nizampura village, who had been objecting to the procession citing ‘tradition’, ultimately relented and agreed to let it pass through their village, as the district administration negotiated between the two sides.

Speaking to NDTV after the breakthrough, Jatav expressed his happiness and called it "a victory of all us fighting for equality".

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The route of the wedding procession, which would reportedly be passing through certain sections of Thakur localities, was decided in the meeting between members of the two communities along with the district administration.

However, with Section 144 in effect in Kasganj district, the police has cautioned Sanjay Jatav that nothing objectionable should be said against the other community using loudspeakers while the wedding procession is going on, reported The New Indian Express.

Notably, the Nizampura village is dominated by Thakurs, with the Jatavs – a Dalit caste – comprising 10 percent of the population.

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A few days earlier, when the upper-caste members were objecting to his wedding procession, Sanjay Jatav had told The Quint how he felt "immensely humiliated seeing that militant members of the Thakur caste think Dalit men riding a horse in front of their homes is a personal insult to them."

Calling BR Ambedkar his icon, Jatav is a native of Hathras district of UP and attends DS Degree College in Aligarh. He is set to marry Sheetal Kumari.

In spite of constitutional backing in the 21st century, Dalits are openly being treated unfairly. The Thakur community have instilled a fear in the minds of people from the Jatav caste of taking out a wedding procession through the village. If everyone’s wedding procession is going across the village, then why can’t the same happen with my wedding?

Sanjay Jatav

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