AGRA: It took the district administration three months of hard work to ensure a peaceful Dalit wedding in Kasganj’s Thakur-dominated Nizampur village on Sunday. District magistrate R P Singh used all his available resources of machinery, men and tactics to bring the two communities on a table and agree for the peaceful marriage procession of Sanjay Jatav, 27, and Sheetal Singh, 18 -- a first for any Dalit in the village.However, the administration’s worries seem not to be ending as gram pradhan Kanti Devi, who is a Thakur herself, said, “The wedding went peacefully, but all this media hype and so much police force have brought a bad name to village. Doors of no Thakur house were open when the baraat passed by. I can see more rift between the two communities than ever, now. I cannot guarantee peace in the near future in Nizampur.”Not a single Thakur in the village participated in the wedding. The bride’s next door neighbour, Shankar Singh, said, “Over 50 armed policemen were guarding my house. I had to remain inside.”The groom, Sanjay Jatav, has now appealed to the district administration to provide security to his in-laws, as he suspects that Thakur men might attack them. “We are living in the 21st century. My entire struggle for taking a baraat on a horse in the Thakur-dominated village was convey a simple message that we are all equal. I never had the intention to create any rift between communities,” he told TOI.Meanwhile, the district officials expressed satisfaction at ensuring the peaceful wedding. Kasganj sub-divisional magistrate Devendra Singh Pratap said, “We had to persuade the two communities to talk and agree to a common plan. Route maps were drawn for the Dalit groom’s horse-drawn buggy and baraat, as it was supposed to pass through Thakur houses.”While district magistrate R P Singh said, “Instructions and guidelines were issued to the Dalit community to avoid passing any provoking statements and play loud music during the marriage procession.”

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