The battle against moral policing in Kerala will soon be taken to the court rooms from open venues.
Activists behind the the Kiss of Love (KoL) movement, who pioneered the battle against moral policing in Kerala, will soon float a legal cell to provide free legal assistance to the victims of moral policing in Kerala. As part of it, they are planning to rope in a battery of lawyers, who will represent the victims at various courts across Kerala.
“It has been about eight months since our movement took off and we think perhaps this is the right moment for us to raise it to the next platform’’, said Arundhati.B, an active volunteer of the KoL movement. The association also plans to approach the State government with a suggestion to form a ‘Commission on moral policing’ along the lines of a Child Rights Commission to deal with the cases relating to them.
A discussion with regard to forming the legal cell has now been initiated among the 250-odd active volunteers of the movement. `Alongside the legal cell, a helpline will be also established for the public to report such incidents," said Rahul Pasupalan, another KoL activist. The legal cell may take the form of a youth organisation even as the KoL will retain its unorganised structure. The step comes in the wake of wide-spread complaints of moral policing from different parts of the State.
Meanwhile, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Ernakulam on Thursday granted bail to two of the 10 persons booked in connection with the KoL protests held here in November last year. They have been slapped with provisions of preventing government officials from discharging their duty and causing injury to them
The activists came to know about the charges when some of them received summons from the court. Of the 10 accused, seven belonged to the protesters group while three of them were from the group, which clashed with the KoL activists. “Of the 30 persons arrested in this connection, police have framed just seven of us, which itself shows that this is part of a conspiracy’’, said Jaison Cooper, who on Thursday obtained bail from the court.
Harish Vasudevan, lawyer of the KoL activists said many of the charges slapped against them would not stand in the court.
a helpline will be established for the public to report incidents of moral policing, says KoL activist.
