Moral Policing- Pros and Cons

The Indian culture is very different from the culture of the rest of the world. This culture is prevalent in the country for ages. But I the past few decades, the trends and culture from other countries are entering in our country. People have termed them as western trends because they mostly originated from the countries which are in the west. Many people in the country have accepted them but there are some people who are not willing to accept them and will neither let others follow them. These people start to protest against these trends and culture as well as against the people following them. This is called moral policing and the group of people who do this are called the moral police. According to these people, the western trend is spoiling our culture and spoiling the youth population of the country. They think that in India there is no place for the western culture. India has its own culture and it should follow that. They also think that if some tries to follow the western culture in a form which is against the Indian culture should be punished. If the Indian law does not have any provision to punish them, it becomes their responsibility to punish these people. For this, the moral police groups attack pubs and bars, shut down exhibitions. In some areas, they also oppose western dresses, love marriages and occasions like Valentine’s Day, kiss day, hug day etc. sometimes, their actions get so violent that they are not even accepted by the law.

Some Incidents of Moral Policing

• Siblings of Kerala Attacked just because of a Suspicion: In Kozhikode, Kerala, a girl who studied in higher secondary were attacked up by a gang who thought that these two people loved each other but are from different communities. The girl used to go for some extra classes to school, and her brother used to pick her up from the school after her class. The gang had spotted the two at the same place before also. They thought of them as lovers and attacked them.
• Young Couple Slapped in Maharashtra: In Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra, young couples were slapped by Shiv Sena workers. They accused a couple of immoral behaviour and asked them about their parent’s phone number so that they can be informed about this.
• Man and Woman Beat Up: Muslim women and a Hindu man were beaten up by a group of Muslim activist while they were travelling together. The man was her landlord. The activist accused the woman of having a relationship with her landlord which was not true. They were carrying a sum of 3.7 lakh rupees with them which were given to the landlord by the lady as the lease amount. On their way, the two had stopped at a shop as the woman wanted to buy gifts for her family. The activist spotted them there and started to follow them on bikes. They were nearly twenty people. The forced them to stop the car. They slapped the lady and start using abusive language with them and told them that a Hindu and Muslim cannot love each other. Later the activists trashed up the two of them. When the woman filed the complaint against them, she told the police officer that those people were KFD (Karnataka Forum dignity) members. But the organisation said that their members were not involved in any such case and no arrest was made.
• 55-year-old Man beaten up to Death: In Kerala’s Palakkad district, a moral police gang spotted a fifty-five-year-old man coming from a house which was one kilometre away from his residence. The gang question him about it. Later on, he was brutally beaten up to death. One of the gang members called his house and told his family to take his body away. The police found that it was an act of moral policing.
• Only Salwar Kameez Dress Code in a University: The Aligarh muslin university ordered its female students to wear only salwar kameez with dupatta both inside and outside the hostel. The girls were also told to keep the only mobile phone with them and they were not allowed to at outside. If they did not follow the orders they would be fined. But there were no such rules for the male students of the university. It was only the girls, whose every movement was to be recorded in a register. But later on, the orders were dismissed.
• Couples Attacked by Bajrang Dal: In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, a group of men from the Bajrang Dal entered a park on friendship day where some couples were sitting at the bank of the lake. This group started to abuse the couples and started to blacken their face. They attacked one couple and threw her on the ground later. The group came on motorcycles with orange flags and swaggers with them. Some couples filed a complaint against them. Consequently, four Bajrang Dal members were arrested by the police.

Moral Policing: Advantage and Disadvantages

In the past few years, India has seen so many cases of moral policing. The people who are involved in moral police gangs think that they are preserving their culture because they think that due to the spread of the western culture the Indian culture needs protection. But these people are mistaken about what the Indian culture actually is. The Indian culture is not against love. So why do these people attack couple? India is a democratic country. Every person has the right to live their life in their own way. If a person loves someone why do other people have a problem with them? And if they have a problem, they still do not have any right to humiliate the couple or attack them. Young couples have been attacked, humiliated, beaten, got their faces blackened, just because they loved each other. Is loving someone a crime? Even the Indian law gives an adult person the right to get married to the person of his or her own choice. No one can be forcefully married to someone. If the law is not against love marriages or marriages in different communities why do people make a scene of it? There are cases in which people became victims of moral policing just because of a doubt. Without getting the full knowledge about the case, the moral police groups attacked them. There are also cases in which women have been victims of moral policing because of their dressing sense. There many groups which are against the western dress code for girls. They think that the girls should wear only Indian dresses. According to them, wearing jeans, skirts, tunics, shorts, or frocks attract men. They also say that if a man misbehaves with a lady, then the lady is at the fault due to her dress code. There are gangs which attack the girls wearing western dresses. Some people think that moral policing should be done for the betterment of the society. They think that moral policing will stop physical assaults done on the woman. Those people who think so should also think that no one can be punished for a crime which is not yet done. An in this way they are punishing those which may not be involved in any crime. If the reason is to stop physical assaults on women, moral policing is not the way out. These groups consider a woman drinking as immoral and to stop her or to teach her a lesson, they abuse her or hit her. But on the same side, if they see a man drinking they do not have any problem with that. There may be many people who themselves drink but consider a woman who is drinking as immoral. Drinking is not good. If they stop women from it they cannot allow men to drink. But still, moral policing is not the way. By drinking, the person is not committing any crime. Moral policing also involves actions against kissing in public. The youth of the country thinks that kissing in public should be allowed. The moral police groups think that it is not correct. Even the law does not allow this. Kissing is not a crime but some decency should be maintained in public places. If you want to kiss your lover or your spouse then it should not be done in a public place. Private things require a private place.

Conclusion
Indian culture should be protected. But the Indian culture does not say that loving some is wrong or wearing western clothes is wrong. If you have been the victims of moral policing for these reasons then you should get up and file a complaint against it. The law will support you. Your complaint may protect others from becoming victims of moral policing. If someone is doing a wrong thing, it is the duty of the police to take an action against it. Other people do not have any right to punish them at their own level. Even the law does not support moral policing. So do not keep quiet if you are a victim of moral policing or see someone else becoming its victim. But this does not give you the right to do whatever you want in a public place. As stated earlier, private things should be done in private places. But still, to stop something moral policing is not the way. Moral policing is immoral.