150 booked for assaulting 'backward' family

CHANDIGARH: Haryana police have lodged an FIR against 150 men of upper caste in Yamunanagar district for attacking a backward class family . The upper caste men were annoyed at a man from a “backward caste“ entering a dangal for wrestling.
A Bhat community member from Mohit village entered a dangal (wrestling arena) to give a reward of Rs 1,100 to the winner in villagelevel competition at Bahadurpur.However, the announcer wrongly announced that Mohit Rana (Rana is surname of Rajputs) was the winner. This led to objections from Rajputs, who wanted to know why a youth from backward class had be en invited.
Allegedly dozens of upper caste men later went to the houses of Bhat community and threatened them with dire consequences. They even attacked the cattle there. Sources said when the at tack happened, two policemen were in the village and they informed their seniors when they failed to control the situation.
Jathlana station house officer (SHO) Om Prakash Rana said an FIR has been lodged against some 150 persons, while eight have been named in the complaint.
The latest incident is a re minder of caste-related incidents in different villages of Yamunanagar over the past few months.
Earlier in October, farmers in a Sabepur village had banned entry of Dalits in their fields following a dispute between a Dalit woman and a farmer from dominating caste. A formal announcement was even made in the village that nobody would be allowed to enter the fields for collecting fodder. No particular caste was mentioned in the announcement but Dalits claimed it was meant for them. They had opposed the diktat, saying such a decision would make their survival difficult as they were dependent on the farmers' fields for fodder for their animals. However, farmers claim they have every right to decide on who enters their fields.
Earlier, a dalit groom was barred from carrying out the marriage ritual of ghurchari by a group of upper caste in Kanalshi village. Police had lodged an FIR against 14 villagers from upper caste for thrashing the groom.Ghurchari is a pre-nuptial ritual in which the groom rides a mare to the village temple.