82 youths rounded up in Nagpur moral policing

The Nagpur police on Tuesday evening caught 82 young boys and girls, some of them botany students...

The Nagpur police on Tuesday evening caught 82 young boys and girls, some of them botany students, from the Botanical Garden in Telankedhi area and herded them into the Gittikhadan police station, on suspicion of indulging in indecent behaviour in public. The girls and boys were made to wait for hours for the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Purushottam Gavai, to arrive before being released.

“We had received complaints that some school and college-going students bunk their classes and indulge in indecent behaviour in the garden. We took action under Sections 110 and 117 of the Bombay Police Act, pertaining to obscene behaviour in public places, and caught 82 youngsters who were there in the park at that time,” Gavai told The Indian Express.

After questioning, the police could slap the Sections only against five couples. The rest of the girls and boys, however, were released only after their family members identified them. “Some of the girls and boys were shouted down and made to sit on the floor. The girls were asked to remove the scarves they were wearing to hide their faces from media glare. One or two of them were even slapped,” an eyewitness told The Indian Express. “The ACP reached the place leisurely after two hours,” he added. Gavai, however, denied the charge.

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Asked how the police assumed all of them were indulging in indecent bahaviour, Gavai said, “We didn’t have the time to ask everyone who they were. So we detained all of them and then released them after proper inquiry.” He said this was a routine action.

The Botanical Garden is managed by the Punjabrao Krishi Vidyapeeth. Garden’s project officer Vijay Golliwar told The Indian Express: “People enter the garden after buying tickets. Our guards keep a watch on them. Anyone found indulging in indecent act is immediately caught and fined.”

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