| There's no discussion of what the religion of the parties involved might be, though I suspect that at least those harrassed are non-Muslim. What's just as interesting is the source â Arab News, fresh from the land of the religious police. Getting in a dig, are they? Or are they trying to figure what the fuss is about? |
 Outrage and protests mounted in India yesterday after TV channels showed police officers repeatedly slapping, punching and pulling the hair of young women on a date in a public park in a north Indian city. Indian media reported one couple was so humiliated by the police action in front of TV crews they have not returned home. âWe are waiting, but my son has not returned. He had gone to drop his girlfriend home,â said Malti Sharma, mother of 20-year old Amit. Amit was one of the victims of Mondayâs police action. âThe girl was scared to go home. I donât know where they have gone.â
âIs falling in love wrong? Who gave the police the right to beat and hit people and misbehave in such a manner,â a woman in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh state told Aaj Tak television news. Since Tuesday, shocked TV viewers in India have been watching images of female officers pummelling and abusing crying young women in Meerut in what the media is calling âmoral policingâ.
| They've been living with their Muslim neighbors for too long. It's starting to catch on... |
TV footage also showed male policemen with sticks surrounding the scared women and taking them to women officers who beat them. Several of their male companions were beaten also. The police operation, termed âoperation Romeoâ, in a popular park in Meerut on Monday was touted by police as a move to prevent sexual harassment of women. It turned out to be something very different.
| So it would seem. Who the hell let the Taliban in? |
In Meerut, students shouting âDown with police dictatorshipâ have staged demonstrations and burned effigies of police officers. The outcry, including from women groups, has forced the police to suspend two women officers and probe the incident.
| Good idea. And have somebody beat them up, too, the hairy old bitches... |
The National Commission for Women said in a statement yesterday that it had asked for a report from the state government within a week about the âpolice harassment of young people meeting in public parks.â Ranjan Bajpai, an official of the Womenâs Commission said that âno civilized society should allow such type of cultural policing.â
| Even most uncivilized societies don't... |
Members of the upper house of Indiaâs Parliament condemned the police action, calling it âsick policing.â âWe had been getting complaints from people that young people indulge in indecent behavior, but some policemen exceeded their limits,â Meerut police superintendent Rajiv Ranjan Verma told AFP.
| The idea of the local swains banging the local wenches in public parks doesn't do much for me, but I don't go rooting through the bushes to find them. As long as they keep it private it's no skin off my fore... |
One witness said police even picked on a married couple. âThey started beating a married couple... They were not even ready to listen to what the couple wanted to say. They were just slapping them,â a witness told NDTV television.
| I'da gone from there to my lawyer's office. My bruises would have formed into dollar signs... |
In parliament MPs demanded action against the police, who were accompanied by TV crews and journalists during the attack.
The incident is a âblot on civilized society,â said ruling Congress party lawmaker Mohsina Kidwai. âIf the police were cracking down on men out to sexually harass women, then why were the girls beaten up?â asked Sushma Swaraj of the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
| My guess is because women aren't as big as men... |
One of Indiaâs most conservative states, Uttar Pradesh is also one of the most crime-ridden, known for gangs indulging in murder, extortion and kidnapping. People in Meerut are amazed that police have the time to go after dating couples.
| Apparently they're easier to find than murderers, extortionists, and kidnappers... |
Some defended the right of young people to date in parks. âNobody should be allowed to bother them as long as they are not indulging in obscene acts,â local lawmaker S.P. Agarwal said.
| I wholeheartedly agree. And even if they are, don't go poking around in the bushes... |
Young couples in cities often meet in parks as dating before marriage is frowned upon by many Indian parents but they are harassed by police who threaten to report them or ask for bribes. |