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NEW DELHI: A few days ago, Mumbai police rounded up 13 couples and 35 others following raids at hotels and a beach, charging them with “indecent behaviour.” The incidents provoked an outcry on social media, with the Twitterati lashing out at the culture of moral policing that is becoming increasingly prevalent across India.
“The 61 people were let off by taking a deposit of Rs 1200 from each with an undertaking that they will appear before the local magistrate when required,” said Milind Khetle, senior inspector of Malwani police station (as quoted in The Indian Express).
Consenting adults spending a night in a hotel room were picked up by policemen, and 35 others were caught for consuming alcohol in public.
The news was widely shared on Twitter.
One of the men arrested told reporters of how police made fun of all those who had been detained, and of their parents. “The police first insulted all of us in front of all the officers and the other couples, and then forced us to call our parents and insulted and disgraced us in front of them. They also made the parents feel guilty as if their children had committed some heinous crime,” the unidentified man said.
The incident received widespread attention, almost all of it negative, with social media users accusing the police of hypocrisy and corruption.
Of course, as is common occurrence with Twitter, the reaction to this incident and the corresponding Tweets too brought out the trolls.
Unsurprisingly, police commissioner Quaiser Khalid defended the arrests. "We were not doing any moral policing. The couples were warned and let off in the past by the patrolling personnel, but they didn't stop their indecent act in a public place which forced us to charge them,” Khalid told the Times of India.
Alright then.
