A group of upper-caste men allegedly attacked a Dalit groom for riding a mare during his wedding procession and thrashed him in Udaipur district of Rajasthan on Thursday night. The police have registered a case against four people and one of the accused has been detained, reported PTI. However, some other reports claimed that four people – Rajendra Singh, Kalu Singh, Nepal Singh and Kishan Singh – have been detained.

The incident took place in Jhalo Ka Dhana village in Udaipur when Kailash Meghwal, 25, took out his wedding procession. The men allegedly got angry after seeing Meghwal riding a mare – a practice that is still considered a privilege only accessible to upper-caste people. They assaulted him up with beer bottles and dragged him along the road. Meghwal suffered injuries on his body and head. “My son was forcibly taken down from the mare, beaten with beer bottles and dragged on the road for some distance,” the groom’s father, Kukaram Meghwal, told Hindustan Times.

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In his complaint, Meghwal had mentioned that there were about five to six people who were carrying beer bottles, rods and other weapons, The Station House Officer of Ghasa police station Ramesh Kavia told PTI. The assailants also attacked other people taking part in the procession. “Investigation is on,” Kavia said. “To provide protection to the victim’s family, we have deployed policemen to avoid any untoward incident.”

A similar incident had taken place earlier this month in Haryana. A Dalit man was thrashed allegedly by a group of upper-caste youths for riding a mare to his bride’s house in Sanjarwas village of Charkhi Dadri district on April 4. The ceremony was performed under tight security after the groom, Sanjay Kumar of Dhani Rivasa village, was discharged from hospital.

In March, violence had broken out in a village in Karnal after upper-caste men prevented a Dalit groom from carrying out the marriage ritual of ghurchari, where the groom rides a mare around the village before heading to the bride’s house.