Dalit groom forced off horse by upper castes, women guests molested in Agra

AGRA: A 22-year-old Dalit groom was allegedly beaten with rods and sticks, and forced to get down from the horse while several women in the wedding procession were attacked and molested by a group of upper caste men in Agra.

Though the incident took place on the night of May 4 in Sohalla area under Sadar Bazar police station of the city, an FIR was lodged on May 9 based on a complaint by the groom’s mother-in-law, Geeta Devi.

“When my son-in-law, Ajay Kumar, along with other guests entered the Radhakrishna marriage hall where the wedding was to be held, they were attacked by around 20-25 men, mainly Thakurs, who hurled casteist slurs and said ‘Dalits grooms in our village don’t ride horses, how dare you?’ They also snapped the power supply three-four times and molested women at the venue,” Geeta stated in the FIR.

SHO Neeraj Sharma said, “A case has been registered against four named accused — Yogesh Thakur, Rahul Kumar, Sonu Thakur and Kunal Thakur — and several unidentified persons under the SC/ST Act and IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 352 (punishment for assault), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 505 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.”

Circle officer (Sadar), Archna Singh, said, “One of the accused, Rahul, has been arrested. We are conducting raids to nab the others. Further investigation is underway.”

‘Dalit grooms in our village don’t ride horses, how dare you?’

Brother of the bride, Manish Kumar, said, “When we tried to stop the attackers, they started thrashing us with lathis. Some guests suffered serious injuries. Later, someone in the family dialled the emergency helpline number, 112. After getting information, around 10-12 police personnel reached the spot and investigated the matter.”

Courtesy : TOI

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