Law enforcement authorities don’t seem to mind. Ujjain SP Sachin Sharma said, “It is their private function and they have issued passes for entry to the event. What is the objection in this?”
The organizer, Sankalp Sanskriti Sanstha, also enforced a rule that every male Garba attendee would be ‘welcomed with a tilak’. “The tilak will deter non-Hindus, thus exposing them,” Bahadur Singh Rathore, president of Sanstha, told TOI.
This Garba is quite popular in these parts and it’s being held for the fifth year in a row on a public ground in Nanakheda on Indore-Ujjain road. Over 5,000 people visit the celebrations. The organisers are making announcements about the restrictions for entry to the event.
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“We are not against any religion, but we want to put an end to love-jihad and restrict entry to those trying to spread animosity. Garba events were used to mislead Hindu girls into marrying men of other religions,” Rathore claimed.
Asked if it was legal to prevent anyone thus, he said, “We are not stopping anyone if they visit with women of their families.”
District collector Kumar Purshottam told TOI that he was not aware of ‘any such thing’. “The initial permission was given by the local SDM. If a complaint is made, I will review it in accordance with the law,” he said.
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