A Dalit's wedding party was attacked and the groom forced out of the car allegedly by members of the upper castes in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, simply because they did not want a Dalit groom to go for his wedding in a well decorated car.
Reports said in the district's Dadia Fazalla village on Wednesday evening, some upper caste members carrying firearms arrived at the house of Girdhari Lal, whose son's wedding party was making preparations to leave for the marriage venue, a few kilometres away.
They allegedly fired in the air to scare away the guests, damaged the car and looted the cash and other gift items and left after threatening the family with dire consequences if the groom left for the venue in a car, sources said.
A scared Girdhari Lal informed the police and the wedding party later left under police protection. The miscreants also attacked the Dalit family when the wedding party returned the next day.
A case under the SC/ST Act has been registered against some persons and at least one of the alleged culprits has been arrested.
Earlier also cases of discrimination against the Dalits have been reported from different parts of the state.
A few months back, a Dalit family had to face the ire of a panchayat for having a disc jockey (DJ) at a wedding ceremony in Baghpat district. The panchayat members had turned up in the middle of the ceremony and forced the family to stop the music and even made sure that the DJ group immediately left the village.
In another incident, members of the Dalit community had been prevented from entering into an ancient and famous temple of Lord Shiv by a panchayat.
The Dalits were barred from entering in the temple in ‘Shravana’ (a month in the Hindu calendar considered to be auspicious for Lord Shiv’s devotees) for ‘Jalabhishek’ (oblation of Ganga-water on the Shivalingam).
BSP leaders have alleged that atrocities on Dalits had risen manifold during the Samajwadi Party regime in the state.
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