City Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi on Monday said that no individual or organisation opposing the Kiss of Love event – proposed to be held on November 30 – can take the law into their hands to stop it.
“If anyone has the right to stop it, it is the police. People have a right to oppose, but they should desist from making statements that they will take the law into their hands. Otherwise the police will take action against them,” he told presspersons after a meeting held in Vidhana Soudha.
He said a call on whether to allow the event or not would be taken in a day or two. “A group of people had applied for permission to hold the event. We had asked them to explain what they intended to do and they have submitted an explanation. Meanwhile, I had also asked our field-level officials to submit a report on the situation. Based on the two reports, we will take a call,” he said.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that while moral policing would not be tolerated, any event that could bring “disgrace to the State” would also not be allowed. However, he added that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would take a final call.
Arrest them: Poojary
Meanwhile, Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary on Monday opposed the proposed event, asking the government not to allow it.
Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Poojary said if the activists went ahead with the event, the government should arrest them and take action as per law. He claimed that the act amounts to outraging the modesty of a woman, thereby attracting penal provisions.
Mr. Poojary said he has already conveyed his views to the Chief Minister through V.S. Ugrappa, MLC, and hoped that Mr. Siddaramaiah would not allow the event. If it is allowed, it would have serious repercussions and might get imitated in schools and colleges and even in government offices, he claimed.
One kind of excess activism (moral policing) cannot be countered by another kind of excess activism (Kiss of Love), said Mr. Poojary. He warned that it would give fresh ammunition to Sangh Parivar outfits. The parivar wants the event to be held so that it can come to limelight again, he said.
