It’s hard to believe that a state that has Bengaluru with its global lifestyle for its capital, has a moral police brigade terrorising its young people. While the saffron outfits, taking the high moral ground on how people should live their lives, are trying to force their beliefs down their throats, the official report on the latest instance of their high-handedness has left most gasping in disbelief. .
While ‘strongly condemning’ the attack on young men and women at a home stay party, the Karnataka State Women’s Commission has swiftly moved the needle of suspicion to the male victims and the home stay owner. Giving an immoral trafficking twist to the story, the report’s extensive mention of youth going astray, seems to convey that it is not above moral policing too.
Skirting the real issue of activists of a saffron outfit barging into a private party and manhandling the young girls and boys present, the report instead recommends investigation into whether the “boys who organised the birthday party had misled the girls”. It also seeks transfer of the father of one of the guests at the party, who happens to be a police officer.
The male victims of the attack at the home stay are also accused of using marijuana although the police had found no evidence of its use at the party. In fact it had mentioned that in the absence of drugs there was nothing to suggest the youngsters were at a rave party as alleged.
But the commission ignores this to dwell on how the drug mafia is active in colleges in Mangalore and even appeals to the state to constitute a special team to deal with the problem. While a good recommendation in itself , it has nothing to do with the incident that the report was meant to deal with.
It doesnt stop here , however, but proceeds to throw more mud on the victims of the attack, by raising the issue of immoral tafficking. " The police should have a separate cell to deal with cases of missing women and immoral trafficking. As Dakshina Kannada borders Kerala, which has direct international links, cases of missing women must be given top priority,” it says. The commission’s concern about the misuse of home stays and clubs may be real, but hardly relevant in the present case, where young people were at the receiving end of an unprovoked attack.
Digressing from the issue at hand, the commission goes on to recommend that the Home Department should make it mandatory for all police stations to have a list of clubs, home stays and people involved in such businesses who are suspected of involvement in illegal acts. It compares the list to the one on rowdysheeters that police stations have and recommends that the police summon the owners of these businesses periodically and keep a check on their properties in Bengaluru, Mysore and the coast. The report doesnt fail to find fault with the media too, suggesting that it should opt for some form of self-regulation.