The Jogi community socially boycotted a family of the same caste, for marrying their son to a Dalit woman in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka. Vexed by inter-caste marriage, the leaders of the community have called for a social boycott, ordering the villagers to not talk to the groom’s family and warned of a penalty if not abided by.
The community leaders have not only set a fine of Rs.1000/- on those who disobey and talk to the victim’s family but have offered an amount of Rs. 500/- to those informing about the violation of the order.
The couple filed a complaint at the Kumsi Police Station of Shivamogga. A case was registered and a team of officials are reported to have visited the village too.
Preet and Dinesh married on September 10th, after being in a relationship, and registered their marriage on September 27th. The Jogi community has now boycotted the family for accepting the girl from the Adi Karnataka community.
With approximately 60 of 80 houses belonging to the Jogi community, it is among the majority of the village, Horabailu. About 36 houses belong to the same community, including some of the groom’s relatives, who are in the same circle.
The family had no option but to approach the police seeking help, after the family was denied from attending a Pooja of their deity held every year in the village, which seriously disturbed the complainant.
“Few of those from the Jogi community have availed fake SC (Schedule Caste) certificates and are benefiting from the government facilities. They have no problem availing government facilities using the SC tag, but are not ready to accept a girl from the SC community. This is unacceptable,” Haleshappa, the District Convenor of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS) told The New Indian Express.
The DSS have demanded the authorities and the administration take strict action against the perpetrators, failing which, they have cautioned of staging a strong protest in the coming days. Shivamogga Tehsildar, Nagaraj, is reported to have instructed the Kumsi Police Inspector to register a case immediately.
Such incidents of discrimination against the Dalit community see no end in sight in the state of Karnataka. Earlier today, another incident was reported in the same district, wherein Dalit students were made to clean school toilets. This comes, despite a warning by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a similar incident caused outrage in another part of the state (Kolar district), making school students clean a septic tank.
