Rule of caste rather than rule of law runs in Bachhauda village of Tikamgarh.
In an incident that was reported on Monday night, musclemen of the dominant land-owners’ caste in the village stopped the marriage procession of a Scheduled Caste groom who was forced to alight from the horseback while going for the marriage ceremony. “It is a rule in the village that no dalit should ride a horse.” They reportedly said.
Surprisingly, district Collector Sudam Khade was unaware of the incident. When contacted over phone, Khade told, “Since, you have brought this to my knowledge, I would see what action can be taken.” At the same time, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Tikamgarh downplayed the incident as a minor scuffle between the two communities. “There was most probably a scuffle because the marriage party was playing loud music and they were also drunk. It is even not clear if there was any horse at all over which the bridegroom could be riding,” he said, adding that if they (the dalit family) have real grievance they should have come forward to lodge a report.
Jitendra Vanshkar, aged 22, son of Ramcharan Vanshkar reportedly informed that the men, who belong to OBC (Other Backward Caste) community, came equipped with swords and sticks and threatened that they would not allow the marriage procession to pass unless he came down from the horse. They told that it is a rule in their village that no dalit should ride on horse for his marriage, he said.He informed that the incident occurred at night around 11 o’clock after the marriage procession had covered a short distance along with the band party.
Many influential upper caste men of the village gathered and stopped the band party from playing music. They objected that a dalit groom should not take out a marriage procession in that way and asked the groom to alight from the horse he was riding and when he refused they forcibly took him down. “When my sister protested, they threatened of violence forcing me step down. The whole procession passed quietly on foot,” Jitendra informed.
He also told that the police reached at the place very late. However, Digaura police station in-charge KD Singh said that the police had reached on time but found doors of the nearby houses closed by that time. Informing that prohibitory action has been against one Ram Swaroop Ghoshi of the village he added that if the aggrieved family still have grievances they should lodge FIR in the police station.