Row over ‘ghurchari’: Karnal village limps back to normalcy

Tribune News Service

Karnal, March 5

The district administration, along with Sagga village residents, today worked towards normalising the situation in the village, which had turned tense on the night intervening Friday and Saturday following an altercation between Dalit and upper-caste communities over a marriage ritual.

A Dalit groom was stopped from performing ‘ghurchari’ reportedly by some upper caste youths in the village, which had led to stone pelting. A cop and several others had sustained injuries in the incident.

SDM Yogesh Kumar, along with DSP Vivek Choudhary, involved the residents to convince members of both communities to maintain peace and harmony since morning today. Late in the evening, both groups agreed to resolve the matter. However, heavy police force was still deployed in the village to keep vigil and avoid any untoward incident.

Sombir’s marriage was to be solemnised on Saturday. On the wedding eve, his family members took out the ‘ghurchari’ procession in the village. Some upper caste youths asked them to stop the procession. The situation turned tense as Dalits opposed the demand.

The situation was brought under control with the intervention of Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar and SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa.

“We are making efforts to normalise the situation in the village. Both community members have assured us that they would not take the law into their own hands,” said the SDM. The groups were ready to talk on a common platform to sort out the issue and efforts were being made for the same, he added.