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Portfolio Panties and Principles |
| Panties and Principles In January this year, Hindu activists attacked women in a Mangalore pub. An outcry followed, the Pink Chaddi campaign gained popularity around the world, and urban men and women vowed to fight against such violence. But who is really doing the moral policing, asks Mridu Khullar On my 18th birthday, I was arrested. The year was 1999, the place Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi. Three friends and I were driving home from a party when one of them had an emotional outburst and begged us to stop the car-- in front of shacks selling liquor as it turned out. Before we knew what had happened, we were rounded up, driven to the police station and charged with buying alcohol, which was illegal in the state of Haryana. The police knew full well that no such sale had occurred. In fact, it wouldn't be until years later that I would get a taste. But the corrupt policemen saw opportunity. Middle-class kids-- translation: Quick cash. Our parents were summoned to the police station, given a lecture on bad parenting and threatened with media attention. Fearing the damage this would do to their children's reputations regardless of their innocence, the four sets of parents paid up. It's called moral policing, and it is still claiming victims. Years ago, no police officer could have dared come near my friends or me if we'd had the society, the media, or even our own families on our side. But just as the police officers knew that we had done nothing wrong in the eyes of the law, they also knew that just by being found outside a run-down place that sold alcohol, we had committed a sin in the eyes of our own society. * For the complete story, please contact Mridu. |
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