The ‘M’ word: Moral policing on the rise, says report

By Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: In November 18, 2008, students from different communities, a boy and a girl, after their college, stopped by to have a snack, near Balmatta area in Dakshina Kannada district. A few minutes later, to their horror, a group of angry men had descended upon them. Both the boy and girl were roughed up, the latter briefed about her limits and sent home. The boy, who belongs to a different community, was beaten black and blue before being dragged off to a police station. Stories like these are common today, sadly, all involving violence and undertones of communal hatred.

In a bid to address these acts of communal violence, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ) and All India People’s Forum (AIPF) was released in Bengaluru have compiled a report titled ‘From communal policing to Hate Crime: The Attacks on Ambedkars’s Dream of Fraternity’.

PUCL had published reports on untoward incidents in the name of moral policing from 2008 to 2012. “The fact-finding initiative was initiated in the backdrop of an increase in such incidents during the first quarter of 2021,” said Maitreyi Krishnan, co-convener, AILAJ.

The initiative was constituted after several rightsbased organizations, mostly from Bengaluru, took congnizance of the issue at hand. The Muslim community inevitably that bears the brunt. There is a network of informers who pass on information about interfaith social interactions to right-wing groups, they said. “They could be bus drivers, vendors, or youths who tip-off the groups about these incidents,” the activists said.

“The biggest shock was hearing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai justify this violence,” says Sunil, an activist who participated in the event. The report analyses communal policing and identifies six patterns that have emerged. These include enforcing social segregation, dictating intimacies, economic and social boycott, attacks in the name of cattle, curbing religious freedom and spewing hate speech.

“Police play a vital role here. Whenever there is a case of moral policing, police will turn up late to the spot or take the victims into custody. There is no action against the wrong-doers and their organisations taking law into their own hands. In fact it is the inter-faith friends who are troubled by them. In this light, the police can be seen as effective allies in the process of enforced segregation,” said women’s rights activist Brinda Adige.

“We request the government and the police to ensure that all citizens enjoy their right to live with dignity and take effective and preventive action against all those who disturb the communal peace in Dakshina Kannada. Show that the law will not hesitate to take action against such criminals. FIR should be registered against them,” said Arvind, an activist and an advocate.

Sangh Parivar groups and their affiliates are known to appreciate BJP governments only if they are allowed a free hand to establish core right-wing agendas - namely prevention of cow slaughter, inter-religious relationships, religious conversions and protection of Hindu culture. Even politicians don’t promise development and public safety anymore. Instead, they talk about religious structure and domination, the activists said.

“These miscreants wearing saffron clothes speak about morality. But they know very little about their own religion,” Sunil added.