“Anti-Romeo squads are policemen, women and vigilante groups, operating outside the purview of law, with support of Uttar Pradesh, which threaten women’s freedoms,” noted women rights activists.
They maintained that the serious issue of violence against women and their routine sexual harassment in U.P. can’t be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads.
‘Moral policing’
Activists including Aruna Roy of the National Federation of Indian Women, Syeda Hameed of the Muslim Women’s Forum, lawyer and human rights activist Indira Jaising, and feminist Historian and democratic rights activist Uma Chakravarti have raised this issue.
“These squads impose their own aggressive and arbitrary code through moral policing. It has already come to light that in many cases, these anti-Romeo squads have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men, which has even been acknowledged by the U.P. DGP in his orders on March 22 and March 25,” noted the group.
Private actors
They added that they strongly disapproved of the process of this form of policing, including its outsourcing to private actors in some cases.
“We are clear that maintaining law and order is the primary function of the State and nothing can be done contrary to law while addressing the issue of women’s safety. The so-called anti-Romeo squads are being encouraged by a State that reneges on its own obligation to maintain law and order. When the right to personal liberty and privacy is compromised by these squads, the State must be held fully accountable for such violations and made to restore the dignity of the citizens who are targeted by these squads by adequately compensating them and acknowledging that their rights have been violated,” they maintained.
They said that “in our understanding, the Allahabad High Court judgment of March 30, 2017, uncritically legitimised these squads on the basis of the guidelines presented by the DGP and also opened the doorway to bring in vigilante groups by saying that ‘in our considered opinion, it is the duty of the every citizen as well as of the State to come to the aid of women keeping in view the provisions contained in Article - 51A (e)(j) of the Constitution of India which provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of the women. The action taken by the State government can be a signal project informing the citizens of the State that the time has come when they also have to rise to the occasion to act in the aid of the Constitution by educating and informing their children to observe moral discipline’.”
“Deeply disturbed”
“We would also like to bring to the notice of all that we are deeply disturbed and alarmed that a tweet by well-known Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan has led to vigilantes attacking his home and the police registering an FIR against him under Section 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow,” they added.
The group demanded that the “anti-Romeo squads” be immediately wound up, and FIRs and complaints against Mr. Bhushan immediately closed.
High Court judgment
They also demanded that the Allahabad High Court judgment be reviewed in light of its misuse of initiating vigilante groups in the name of citizens disciplining their children and that a prompt grievance redressal mechanism responding effectively on instances of sexual harassment along with the responding to excesses carried out by these squads be put in place.
