New Delhi: A Dalit man from Rajasthan’s Tarwada village received police protection during his wedding procession on Saturday. The step was taken after the groom’s family sought protection, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to conduct the pre-wedding event.
The SC panel wrote a letter to the Rajsmand police, asking the unit to give proper protection to the family of the groom for the wedding procession. The police will have to submit a report within 15 days of the event as the wedding is scheduled on Sunday (May 4).
According to a report by The Indian Express, the SC panel took suo motu cognizance after Suresh Bamaniya, the brother’s groom, wrote a letter to the district police. Suresh cited an incident from 2022, where a Dalit groom’s wedding procession was disrupted.
The development was confirmed by Rajsmand Superintendent of Police, Manish Tripathi. He said that 170 police officers were deployed in the village to ensure the pre-wedding ritual went as smooth as possible. Additionally, there was drone facility to keep tab on the situation.
This protection is also essential after a protest was witnessed in Haryana’s Panchkula district over a Dalit groom riding horseback for his wedding procession. The incident was reported on April 7 with upper caste residents objecting to the groom’s arrival on horse in a ‘baraat’.
To ensure the maintenance of order, the local authorities deployed 300 police officers in Mauli village during the entire wedding celebrations.
Reports suggested that as the groom was on his procession from Shahzadpur to Mauli village, the members of the upper caste group attempted to intervene the event. Following this, four police vehicles arrived at the location to provide protection to the groom while ensuring safety of all the attendees.
Though some troublemakers made attempts to show wild behaviour against the police, they were soon dispersed from the site after mild police force was employed, allowing the remaining wedding ceremony to complete without any turbulence.
