Pious Ghaziabad cops preach morality: by slapping and punching young couples!
Delhi: the last person a citizen may want to seek moral lessons from may be a cop, even a female cop! Recently, after a newspaper carried a report on how Ghaziabad police SO Alka Pandey Aggarwal and her team harassed couples in the name of ridding the city of eve-teasing, SSP Raghuvir Lal decided to suspend this ‘Chulbul Pandey’, pending further inquiry. Lal rightly said ‘As the police’s main job is to protect people, it is also our duty to protect their basic rights. We cannot misbehave with them in public. According to our preliminary inquiry, the officer has not behaved in an appropriate manner. Hence, we decided to suspend her’. The fact is that the police in many parts of India have systematically harassed couples and young men and women, claiming to act in the name of decency and propriety – the idea is to preach ethics on the road by slapping and thrashing youngsters, even as women continue to feel unsafe in our cities.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has condemned ‘Operation Majnu’ – the Ghaziabad police’s drive – where young couples were targeted at parks and malls and publicly humiliated. In the past, there have been similar attempts in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Aligarh, where police officers have made couples perform sit-ups, pulled their ear, etc. What happened in Ghaziabad according to a report recently was this – ‘the cops come announced and pick up random couples. They hold men by the collar. Holding hands seems to be a crime. There are other grave crimes like kidnappings, murders and dowry deaths that need to be checked. Even men accompanying women to markets were being hauled up’. Finally, sisters accompanying their brothers are told they are lying!
Despite being forced to admit the mistake by suspending the concerned officer, SSP (Ghaziabad) Raghuvir Lal told the press ‘Please do not just highlight these minor aberrations and understand the greater issue of safety of women. However, we will not violate anybody’s basic rights’. This clearly shows that the so-called ‘anti-Majnu’ campaign would have continued if the press had not stepped in. The interesting thing about these campaigns is how often it is a female cop who seems to take an initiative with extra zeal and pleasure!
When if ever, will the cops understand that protecting young couples from molestation is the same thing as protecting women, and attacking couples with sticks and beatings put the cops squarely in the same class as common goons in the street?
[Courtesy: the Times of India]