The Hindu : Front Page : Sporadic incidents mark Valentine’s Day

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Sunday, Feb 15, 2009
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Sporadic incidents mark Valentine’s Day

Anita Joshua

But citizens and civil society defy moral police outfits

— Photo: PTI

PLAYING SPOILSPORT: Bajrang Dal activists force a girl to tie ‘rakhi’ on the wrist of her companion on Valentine’s Day in Rourkela.

NEW DELHI: Barring stray incidents of harassment, citizens and civil society beat back various attempts by moral police outfits to disrupt Valentine’s Day on Saturday. If anything, the bid by saffron outfits to kick up a storm over the celebration generated greater interest in the Day and cash registers kept ringing in pubs. Heightened vigil by police and preventive custody of known miscreants nipped possible trouble in the bud. Still, there were instances of couples being forced into marriage or tie ‘rakhis.’ In Ujjain, a brother-sister duo was not spared as some miscreants – claiming to be of the Bajrang Dal – mistook them to be a couple and beat up the boy.

In Jammu, activists of an organisation called Shiv Sena Hindustan staged a demonstration and burnt Valentine’s Day cards. Gwalior police arrested 35 Shiv Sainiks after they forced their way into a zoo with the intention of targeting couples. Apprehending trouble, police took into preventive custody seven Shiv Sainiks and four activists of the Sanskriti Bachao Manch in Bhopal.

A group of Bajrang Dal activists vandalised a shop selling greeting cards in Rourkela on Friday. There were also reports from the industrial township of couples being forced to tie ‘rakhis.’

Similarly, in Pune, two couples headed for a picnic spot were stopped by Shiv Sena activists and made to ‘marry’ by exchanging garlands. In the capital, five Shiv Sainiks were rounded up in the Rajouri Garden area of West Delhi.

On Friday, police in Karnataka – which was the fountainhead of the latest round of moral policing – detained over 200 people across the State including Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik.

The Karnataka police action came a day after the Centre asked the State government to take preventive and punitive action to ensure that law and order was maintained on Valentine’s Day.

Describing the activities of outfits like the Sri Ram Sene as “mischievous and high-handed,” the Centre noted that no organisation can take on the role of “self-styled arbitrator” of morals and morality. Ordinary people organised themselves into little groups to counter the intrusion into their personal lives by a handful of people in the name of Indian culture. The most talked about response has been a web-based group formed on the social networking site, ‘Facebook.’ On Saturday afternoon, the campaign launched by the ‘Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women’ claimed a membership of 31,888.

The campaign was launched on February 5 after the Sri Ram Sene issued threats against those who celebrated Valentine’s Day.

PTI reports:

Shiv Sena activists blackened the faces of couples in Aurangabad, while saffron activists burnt Valentine’s Day cards in Maharasthra, U.P. and M.P.

In Jind district of Haryana, a girl student of a college found with another male student in a room was dragged by her hair by a sub-inspector on Friday night following complaints from locals. He and another constable were suspended.

Sri Ram Sene activists raided a Valentine’s Day party at a software firm on the outskirts of Belgaum, Karnataka.

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