UP Dalit Groom’s Wish to Take Out Marriage Procession Through Thakur Localities Hangs in Loom

UP Dalit groom faces problems after expresses to take out his baraat through the by-lanes of upper-caste Hindus.

Uttar Pradesh, April 01:  A 27-year-old Dalit youth, Sanjay Kumar hailing from Basai Babas village in western UP’s Hathras district, has been running from pillar to post in order to be able to out his baraat or ‘marriage procession’ through his bride’s Thakur-dominated village.

From writing letters to every government official including the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to approaching the media for help, Kumar has resorted to all means to ensure he could take out his marriage procession from the Thakur dominated route but there has been no breakthrough howsoever.

With 20 days to go for the wedding and no response from any side regarding the matter, Kumar is now questioning the government and asking about his constitutional rights. He was asking if he isn’t a Hindu or if he is then why he’s being denied the privileges other Hindus are receiving under a Hindutva party’s rule. Kumar, a Block Development Council member asked, “Am I not a Hindu then?… There cannot be separate rules for people governed by one Constitution.”

On March 15, Kumar moved to the Allahabad High Court to seek help regarding this issue and it is then that last week, Kasganj District Magistrate (DM) RP Singh and Superintendent of Police (SP) Piyush Srivastava, visited Kumar’s bride, Sheetal’s village Nizamabad. They checked the route which was sought by Kumar for his baraat.

After checking, DM Singh ruled out the suggested route citing narrow roads, drains and garbage. Singh also checked if there had been any Dalit wedding in the past along the route suggested by Kumar and found that there were none. He then asked Kumar to take the usual route that which was taken by Dalits in the village, reported the Indian Express.

Kumar and his bride Sheetal, both belong to the Jatav cast which is a minority in the Thakur dominated village. This issue come to light amidst growing tension, as the Jatavs, who favour the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), assert themselves in the small village where the Thakurs form a majority. Several members of Sheetal’s family are in the BSP.

In the wake of such a situation, police have got around 11 Jatavs and 24 Thakurs to sign on bonds stating they wouldn’t create violence in the area to which the Thakurs have agreed to extend all help. However, the Thakurs aren’t too happy with Kumar’s plea of taking out his baraat from the Thakur lanes and have been retaliating ever since the news came out in the open.

From cutting off water supply to the Jatav fields to digging out Sheetal’s date of birth in order to state that she’s a minor, they’ve done it all. “We don’t have a problem. Let the wedding happen, we don’t have an allergy. The problem is someone forcibly coming into our territory and breaking boundaries. When a baraat has never come down our path then why are they trying to provoke a row?” Pradhan Kanti Devi, a Thakur from the village, asked.

The Kasganj DM reportedly said that the Dalits were trying to change traditions and were unnecessarily picking up a fight with their community. He added that they had tried to be reasonable with the Dalits but it is they who have refused to listen to them. Since it has come down to people taking sides and standing by their caste fellows, BSP leader Ajay Kumar too plunged into the matter and said that Dalits had fewer options than to abide by the age-old customs and traditions.

Meanwhile, the groom’s family is of the opinion that the baraat is a kind of a barrier that must come down. Sheetal’s brother Beetu, 25, a science graduate, “We have the money, we are not harming anyone, and the Constitution gives us the right, as much as it does anyone else, to walk where we want.” Kumar’s family and the Dalit community believe that it is the upward mobility of the caste which has irked the upper-caste Thakurs.