Gujarat: Dalit wedding held under police cover

A day after members of the Patel community blocked a road to obstruct the wedding procession of a Dalit groom in Khambhir village of Modasa in Aravalli district, it took the might of the police to ensure that the wedding could be held peacefully on Monday.

On Sunday, the Varghodo of Jayesh Rathod came across a roadblock as Patel women sat on the road for bhajans. The police had to intervene and the procession also faced stone pelting as the impasse continued. Four people from the Dalit community and several cops were injured. Later, the procession had to be withdrawn.

On Monday, the procession was again carried out down the same route, this time, under police protection. It also returned to the village under police protection. At present, the groom's family has two cops posted outside their house.

Khemabhai Rathod, the uncle of the groom and a former assistant sub inspector said that on Sunday there was stone pelting by upper caste members. "We had to withdraw the procession due to the violence. Four of our community members were injured. Today, the police again provided us protection and we carried out the wedding," said Rathod.

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He said although upper caste members had not directly warned the Dalits to not take out the procession, they had told the police that they would oppose the procession. He also alleged that during the violence on Sunday, the cops sided with Patel community members.

Aravalli Superintendent of Police Mayur Patil refuted the allegations stating that the cops had created a human wall between the two communities to prevent any untoward incident on Sunday.

"As they were still negotiating, it had become late and there was a power cut too. Taking advantage of the darkness, some miscreants began throwing stones at the procession and a minor scuffle ensued. We had to retaliate to bring order between the two communities," said Patil.

Dalit leader and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani also criticised the police action against the Dalits in the Aravalli case. "Instead of protecting Dalits from upper caste goons, the police are busy lathi charging them. This is the third such incident in the last four days in which Dalits have been prevented from taking out a wedding procession," he said.

POLICE INTERVENTION

Gujarat Congress on Monday said that every community in the country had right to take out a wedding procession and appealed for peace. They added that the present situation was a result of the government turning a blind eye to the problem.