For the first time: The marriage procession of a Dalit young man making its way towards the house of the bride under police protection in a Rajasthan village over the weekend.
JAIPUR: In a rare instance of self-assertion, Dalits in a remote and dusty village of Rajasthan challenged the centuries-old dominance of higher castes and flouted the prohibition against public celebration of their weddings over the weekend. They took recourse to the law and order machinery for protection of their rights.
Chaudaki Pakhar village in Dausa district – 100 km from here – witnessed the first-ever marriage procession in which a Dalit bridegroom mounted a mare and a band party walked with it blowing trumpets and beating the drums. Senior district and police officers, along with 50 policemen, accompanied the procession.
The family of the Dalit bride, Urmila Bairwa, had informed the Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR) here that Dalits in the village were willing to break the barrier of caste and wanted to make a public display of their merriment. No Dalit in Chaudaki Pakhar was earlier allowed to take out a marriage procession with the bridegroom riding on a mare.
CDR chairperson P. L. Mimroth contacted the district administration and sought protection for the Dalits’ marriage procession, saying the social practices of discrimination against Dalits had no legal sanction. He pointed out that it was the Government’s responsibility to defend Dalits against threats held out by dominant castes.
A CDR team landed in the village on Saturday and accompanied the marriage procession of Anil Bairwa, who came from the nearby Ghotya Ka Baas village. The procession wound its way through the main streets of Chaudaki Pakhar in full view of the higher caste villagers who could not object to it in view of a heavy police deployment.
The wedding festivities continued through the late evening until the newly-wed couple and their relatives left the village. Police were deployed all over the village throughout the day.
Mahuwa Sub-Divisional Officer Pokhar Mal, Deputy Superintendent of Police Richhpal Singh, Tehsildar Pramod Jain and Mandawar police station in-charge Radheyshyam Kumawat accompanied the police contingent.
CDR Director Satish Kumar – applauding the timely intervention of Dausa Collector Rajesh Yadav to safeguard the rights of Dalits – said here on Monday that the incident had proved that the rule of law, if implemented in its true spirit, could help end discrimination against Dalits and change the mind-set of dominant castes.
No comments:
Post a Comment