Caste 'stigma': How Dalit bridegrooms on horses are challenging status quo

Such stand-offs are a manifestation of a deeper struggle within society: upper-caste resistance to the rise of Dalits and how the criminal justice system still fails them

As a wedding procession of 200-odd people danced to the hit Bollywood song Ghoomar, Ramprasad Bamnia, 27, dapper in a dark blue suit, a multi-coloured turban, and sword in hand, sat proudly atop a white-coloured mare.

“This was the third most important day of my life,” Bamnia said. The happiest was when he started studying at a special boarding school for children from the scheduled castes (SC)–the constitutional name for those who were considered at the bottom of the social hierarchy in India–and the second happiest when he was selected in Madhya Pradesh’s