According to directives from the authorities in the Mahidpur tehsil of Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh, sarpanches and panchayat secretaries have to inform police three days ahead of a Dalit wedding in areas which are under their jurisdiction, reported The Indian Express.
Mahidpur sub-divisional magistrate Jagdish Dome has issued a circular after past incidents of caste clashes in the area. Speaking to TIE on phone, he said:
It’s a precautionary measure. We want to avoid any untoward incident. After a case of atrocity is reported, it’s difficult to get evidence because the accused deny everything and come up with a different explanation. It becomes difficult to probe such cases. It’s better that police remain present during marriage processions.
This comes after clashes were reported a few days ago leading to an FIR against 17 people in Naggurdiya village where an upper caste man had allegedly asked a Dalit groom to get off a horse, as per TIE report.
Quoting SDM Dome, TIE reported that while the Dalits stood by their allegations of atrocities, some of the arrested upper caste accused had claimed that they had asked the groom to stop for sometime only because it was a single-lane road and a tractor was parked there.
SDM Dome also told TIE that nobody in the area has so far complained about the circular which would also apply to OBCs and STs.
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