A Dalit groom’s wedding procession in Gadalvada village, Banaskantha, Gujarat, was anything but ordinary. With 145 police personnel deployed, including a police inspector and three sub-inspectors, lawyer Mukesh Parecha’s varghodo (a traditional groom’s horse ride) took place under tight security on Thursday.
Parecha, 33, had sought police protection, fearing backlash from upper-caste groups as no Scheduled Caste person in his village had ever carried out a varghodo. “I will be the first to do this. There is every possibility of an untoward incident,” he wrote in his application to the Banaskantha Superintendent of Police.
Despite the heavy security, Parecha later alleged that after he completed the horse ride and sat in his car, someone threw a stone at his vehicle. “The Police Inspector (K.M. Vasava) himself drove the car while Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani, who was present, sat inside,” he said, adding that he would file a formal complaint in a day or two.
However, Inspector Vasava denied the claim. “We had a drone camera monitoring the event. The procession was peaceful. Since they alleged stone pelting, I personally drove them to Limboi, where the wedding took place,” he said.
