On Sunday, February 16, the wedding procession of a Dalit Army jawan in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district was disrupted after a group of upper caste people objected to the groom sitting on a mare and pelted stones.
The incident took place around 11 am when the wedding procession of 27-year-old Akash Koitiya, an Army jawan posted in Jammu and Kashmir, was underway at Sharifda village.
Due to objections from the Thakor Koli community, the procession was carried out under police protection. Despite the protection, the upper caste community pelted stones at the procession.
“Earlier, we received threats from a few people from the Thakor Koli community that they would not allow the procession to pass through the village if the groom rode a mare. We gave a written request for police security after which 6-7 police personnel were deployed to accompany the wedding procession,” Vijay Koitiya, the groom’s elder brother, was quoted byThe Indian Express.
“However, after the procession started moving, a group of people started throwing stones. The groom narrowly escaped an injury and was taken to the police control room van. However, three of our relatives, including two women, were injured in the stone-pelting,” he added.
The groom’s family then filed a complaint at the Gadh police station in Banaskantha, following which an FIR was registered against 11 people belonging to the Thakor Koli community. They were booked under Indian Penal Code(IPC) sections 323 (assault), 337 (causing hurt by rash act) 294 (obscenity), 506 (criminal intimidation) 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting with deadly weapon) and sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act). However, no arrests have been made yet.
“The groom and his procession were attacked with stones by a group in the village who objected to him riding a mare. We provided security in advance and after the incident, more personnel were deployed. We have booked 11 accused…,” PG Rajput, the officer in charge of Gadh police station, was quoted by the media.