New Delhi: A Dalit groom was allegedly attacked in Mokhra village of Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh district for riding a horse as part of his wedding procession.
Footage showed Jitendra Ahirwar, the groom, taking out the traditional Rach ceremony on April 23 when a group stopped him for riding the horse, Siasat Daily reported citing police.
He was allegedly attacked with stones, leading to widespread outrage.
It is reported citing police that an upper caste woman, identified as Bhan Kunwar Raja Parmar, hurled casteist abuses at Jitendra during the procession.
Questioning how a Dalit could ride horse in her neighbourhood, she threw stones at him, according to The Observer Post.
Four people were injured when two others identified as Surya Pal and Drigpal, allegedly joined the assault.
Jitendra told reporters that he was humiliated on the happiest day of his life, adding the crowd had thrown stones at him alongside asking him to get off the horse and ‘walk barefoot’. ‘They said Dalits should not even wear slippers near their homes’ he said.
The station in-charge Narendra Verma said that ‘The woman has been taken into custody, and efforts are underway to arrest the remaining accused’.
A more harrowing report from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district said that a Dalit woman was allegedly raped by two upper caste men in front of her four-year-old son.
On April 17 the woman and her son were returning home when two men approached her offering Rs 20,000. Her family was facing some financial problems.
She agreed to ride with them on the bike to receive the loan amount.
The men took her to an isolated place where they held a gun to her son’s head, threatening to kill him if she resisted their move, she alleged in the complaint.
Even after raping her they went on harassing her with frequent phone calls when she disclosed the incident to her husband who filed a complaint.
Mainpuri SHO Anuj Kumar told The Times of India that one of the accused was identified as Ramji Yadav from the same village, adding that ‘We have initiated an FIR under the SC/ST Act. The Dalit woman has been sent for medical tests. Investigations are on’.