MP Dalit man's wedding procession given police protection after threat

A Dalit man's wedding procession was taken out under police protection after his family feared disruption by some influential people at a village in Madhya Pradesh's Neemuch district, police said on Saturday.

The procession, called bindoli in the local language, was taken out on Thursday at Sarsi village under Manasa police station area, some 30 km from the district headquarters, an official said.

The groom's father Fakirchand Meghwal had approached the administration with a complaint claiming that some influential people in the village might disrupt the wedding procession of his son Rahul, he said.

Security was provided to the procession as a precaution, after the groom feared disruption, said Kanhaiya Lal Dangi, the in-charge of Manasa police station.

"All security arrangements were made by the police and the procession was taken out peacefully. All villagers cooperated and there was no opposition. The villagers said that they all have been living harmoniously," Dangi said.

However, the groom alleged that some villagers had threatened his father not to take out the procession or the family would have to leave the village.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Radheshyam Commander said that he had got information from Rahul Meghwal that he wanted to take out bindoli couple of days ago and he had spoken to the police and administration in this regard.

Earlier this week, the police had arrested six persons after stones were allegedly pelted at the home of a Dalit bridegroom and ransacked in Sagar district after he took out a wedding procession, in an act seen as defiance against tradition, the police and family members said.