Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Meerut police action

The police in Meerut have distinguished themselves by conducting Operation Majnu. They very bravely swooped down on teenagers sitting together in a city park. They thrashed youngsters accusing them of such notorious crimes as cuddling and holding hands. Their efficiency can be gauged from the fact that they did not forget to invite the media to the unmatched spectacle. All the policepersons involved in the operation deserve to be richly rewarded.

Sandeep Verma,
Ghaziabad, U.P.

* * *

The audacity of the police personnel, roughing up couples without provocation, in the full glare of the media was shocking. If such abuse can be heaped on hapless citizens when cameras are rolling, one shudders to think of what can happen within a lock-up. Are we living in a 21st century democracy or in a medieval society?

S. Kaushik,
New Delhi

* * *

Even if the couples were behaving indecently in public, the raison d'etre of the operation, the maximum the police were authorised to do was arrest them, not beat them up before a posse of cameramen. It is heartening to find rights activists and women's organisations rising in protest, forcing the authorities to act against the erring police personnel. But will suspending officials change the medieval mindset of the police?

Pooja Chawla,
New Delhi

* * *

Surely, there are better ways of handling "eve-teasing" than beating up unsuspecting youngsters? What surprises me is television cameras were brought along to record the so-called raid. Did the police personnel not even anticipate an adverse reaction? It goes to show how Talibanised their mindset is.

Ashok Viswanath,
Chennai

* * *

Such police atrocities take place frequently. What is important is to change the mentality of police personnel, especially of those in the middle and lower ranks. They should at least be familiarised with the provisions relating to individual freedoms in the Constitution.

Pritam Anand,
New Delhi

* * *

That the legal protectors of individual rights planned such an ingenious operation on unsuspecting couples is a sign of things to come. We can soon expect khaki-clad men to barge into our homes to dictate decent behaviour. The root cause of such happenings is the skewed version of morality supported by a majority. The real issue is not police highhandedness but blatant disregard for individual rights. The practice of imposing the dictates of one section of society on the individual has been continuing for a long time now. Only time will tell whether we can evolve into an accommodating, tolerant, progressive society like the one Nehru envisioned.

V.S. Arun,
Thiruvananthapuram

* * *

The police should be educated to behave decently with women. What did the young girls do to disrupt public order? Is it a crime to go with a man to a park? These police personnel are worse than those agitating against beauty pageants and cultural programmes.

I. Aarthi,
Chennai

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