Bhopal, January 25, 2022 (PPI-OT: Hindu extremists attacked the home of a Dalit bridegroom in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh after he took out a wedding procession on horseback. A Dalit groom was riding a horse for the first time in Ganiyari, a village dominated by upper caste Lodhi Thakur community in Sagar district of the state. The house was attacked on Sunday night, Indian Express reported.

To prevent an attack on the wedding party, the groom, Dilip Ahirwar, 27, sought protection from police and Bhim Army. Almost five hours after the wedding procession left, family members said, members of the Lodhi Thakur community attacked the bridegroom’s home by pelting stones. They also reportedly assaulted the family members.

“Minutes after a power outage around 8.30 pm, a group of more than 100 men, carrying sticks, barged inside our house and attacked everyone, including women,” Permod Ahirwar, 25, who said that he received an injury on hand in the attack. “They did not spare even a 60-year-old woman.”

Permod said that the assailants damaged a car parked outside the house, “and also vandalised the canopy (mandap)”. The police said a clash broke out between two families over electric wires. “A few members of the Thakur community objected to the crossing of wires from their area and attacked Dilip Ahirwar’s home in an inebriated state,” Town inspector, Bunda police station, Manas Dwivedi, said.

Devendra Ahirwar (55), groom’s father, alleged that on Monday members of upper caste community “again threatened us”. “No other man from Ahirwar community will ride a horse again,” Devendra said the upper caste members allegedly told him.

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