The marriage procession of a dalit IPS officer was taken out under police protection in rural Jaipur on Friday because of past cases of upper caste people opposing such events. Sunil Kumar Dhanwanta (26), a 2020-batch IPS officer of Manipur cadre and a native of Jaisinghpura village, rode a mare as part of the procession, said Additional SP (Kotputli) Vidyaprakash said.
The party later left for Haryana for the wedding ceremony, he said. Vidyaprakash said the security arrangements were made as a precautionary measure.
The IPS officer had also rode a mare as part of the ‘Bindauri’ ceremony in nearby Surajpura village on Tuesday under the police watch. Superintendent of Police (Jaipur Rural) Manish Agrawal said the groom had informed the administration about his wedding and the necessary arrangements were made to avert any problem.
When Dhanwanta’s aunt had married in 2001, her fiance was attacked by upper caste members.
“When my aunt married in 2001, the groom was beaten by upper caste men despite the fact that he was not riding a mare when the wedding procession passed through an area where the dominant caste lives,” Dhanwanta told the Hindustan Times.
Dhanwanta said his family was apprehensive as he may be an IPS officer “but for them, I am their son first”. “Even today, people from the scheduled castes do fear taking out wedding processions. Things have improved but there is a long way to go,” he told HT.
In another marriage of Schedule Caste members in April of last year, an MLA from the constituency led the procession with the mare to send a strong message.
In the past, caste-based violence erupted in Rajasthan, with attacks on Scheduled Caste marriage processions, particularly when the groom desired to ride a mare during his wedding.
According to Rajasthan Police data, 76 cases of Dalit grooms being prohibited from riding a horse have been registered in the last decade.
With inputs from PTI
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