The Hindu : Dalits injured in clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 06, 2003

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Dalits injured in clash

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR MAY 5. Five Dalits were injured in a clash with upper caste people who attacked a marriage procession of Dalits, taking objection to the bridegroom riding a mare, in Eklera village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan on Sunday. The marriage procession was taken out with police protection today and the rituals were performed in a tense atmosphere.

The members of the Jatav community from the nearby Jurhera village had come to Eklera for marriage and taken out the bridegroom on a mare in a procession. A huge crowd of Jats and Rajputs of the village objected to this and forcibly dismounted the bridegroom and allegedly snatched his ceremonial crown, garlands and a golden chain.

The upper caste people thrashed the members of the marriage party with lathis and sticks, injuring at least five of them. While the injured were taken to the Government Hospital in Deeg town, the marriage party insisted on being allowed to proceed to the bride's house. The adamant upper caste people blocked the way.

When information about the incident reached the district headquarters, senior officials with heavy police force rushed to the village and vainly tried, till late Sunday night, to persuade the two sides to reach a compromise.

The Bharatpur Superintendent of Police, R.K. Chauhan, told The Hindu that a battalion of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) and police force were deployed in the village during the night and the marriage party proceeded further this morning after the additional security forces cleared its way.

Though police have registered a case with half-a-dozen persons being named as accused, no arrests could be made till late tonight. "It seems that the accused have fled to the neighbouring towns in Uttar Pradesh where they have relatives,'' Mr. Chauhan said. Police teams had been sent to Uttar Pradesh to search them out, he added. This is the second major incident of upper caste people preventing the Dalits' wedding processions in the State during the last two months. An incident of attack on a marriage party of Bairwa caste and dismounting of two bridegrooms had taken place in Bharthala village in Tonk district in the first week of March. The village falls in the constituency of the Deputy Chief Minister, Banwarilal Bairwa.

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Dalits injured in clash