Moral police get kisses of love

Feature report by

Shubhangini Arora

Moral policing in India is not a new phenomenon. Even though we are the world’s largest democracy and the law says nothing about moral policing, time and again we hear about people, mostly women, being attacked by men (always) for going “against our culture.”

But what is the Indian culture about? Do we all come from the same background and with the same set of morals? Do all our religions, families, cultures come from the same school of thought? No. They don’t. So who decides what is moral and what is not?

Apparently, some men in Kerala do; who in the recent past have not refrained from assaulting women, who were thought be acting in an “immoral” manner. How were they being immoral you ask? In June, 2011, a young IT professional was riding pillion behind her male friend when a group of drunken men (which is absolutely not immoral,) attacked her.

In April 2013, a female artist was taking a walk on Marine Drive, Kochi, with a male friend, when she was harassed by policemen. Another young lady was travelling with a male companion, a fellow artist, for which she was detained by the police. If these stories don’t horrify you, may be this will- in June, 2012, a pregnant woman who was waiting at a bus shelter for her husband, who was at an ATM nearby, was beaten up by a group of men for sitting alone.

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All these are women, attacked by men. How come women don’t think about assaulting immoral men, who I’m sure our society isn’t short of. Essentially, men decide what women do, what women wear, where women go and with whom. And then we wonder what puts us at 144^th rank in the Gender Gap List.

The recent ‘Kiss of Love Campaign,’ that saw women on streets, protesting against anyone’s right to stop them, deserve to be applauded. Starting in Kerala on 2^nd November, continuing with Delhi on 8^th November, the campaign reached Kolkata today. Next, Hyderabad will see women and girls holding hands and kissing their partners on the streets.

The Indian Express reported a student in Delhi saying, “Paschami sabhyata (western culture) is degrading our cultural ethos. … Our sisters and our daughters will fall prey to these corrupting influences.” Another report by Times of India stated some Hindu Sena members talking about kissing in public, being equivalent to "walking around naked" and being worried about the spiritual and emotion purity of "sisters and mothers."

Why are their brothers and fathers not bought up? Where are the moral police when women are being eve-teased on street or, being harassed at workplace? On one hand we discuss the driving ban in Saudi Arabia being shameful for this age, and on the other hand we tolerate forces like these, who dictate what their “mothers and sisters” should and should not be doing. These are educated adult women who, by law have the authority to do whatever they want and it is high time for some legal action to be taken against them.