Tension in Niwai after dalits baraat prevented

JAIPUR: Tension prevailed at a village in Tonk’s Niwai area on Sunday night when people tried to prevent the wedding procession of a Dalit groom from passing through their area. The wedding procession was taken out under police protection. However, it was alleged that the groom could not ride on the horseback and wedding band was not allowed in the stretch where upper castes people live.

According to the police, the incident took place in Sirohi village near Niwai late on Sunday night. A baraat of Ram Lalm son of Nand Kishore of Hanutiya village in Tonk district reached Sirohi village late on Sunday evening. The marriage was to take place at the residence of Ram Karan whose daughter was to marry Ram Lal. “When the groom sat on the horse to reach the marriage place, some member of the other community objected it and tension prevailed” said sources. “We received calls from some members of the Dalit community on Sunday evening that some people from upper castes were not allowing the wedding procession to pass by their houses. It was alleged that the road on which the wedding procession was to pass was blocked,” said a police officer.

A team of police and administration officers including SHO, Datwas, Sangram Singh rushed to the spot. Officials said people from the upper castes were preventing the procession as someone had died in the neighbourhood. A huge crowd of Dalit community members gathered at the collectorate building in Tonk and staged a sit-in. They demanded stringent action against the members of the upper castes community.

Source:  The Times of India