Dalit groom on mare: tension prevails as row escalates

Tension prevailed in a village in Haryana’s Karnal amid reports of dalits leaving the village out of fear and in protest following recent clashes with upper caste Rajputs.

The village falls in the constituency represented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Scores of members from the upper caste community had disrupted a dalit groom, Sombir, in village Sagga from sitting on a mare to reach the bride’s place on the day of his marriage as part of the traditional ceremony of ‘ghurchari’.

Chief Minister Khattar said that minister of state for social justice and empowerment Krishan Kumar Bedi and MLA Bhagwan Dass Kabirpanthi have been rushed to the village to pacify the members of both the communities and ease out tension. The dalits have been demanding arrest of the people of the upper caste who thrashed them and stopped the ‘ghurchari’ ceremony on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. They are also seeking rehabilitation in the city. The police have booked more than 40 people in this regard.

While replying on the issue of migration by some members of dalit community from Sagga, Khattar said on the floor of the House that the government was making efforts to normalise the situation. He said that as per the information, the villagers had unanimously decided to do away with the ‘ghurchari pratha’. But when the members belonging to the SC community wanted to perform ‘ghurchari’, they were stopped by members of another community, which made the situation tense.