Kolkata youngsters offer 'free hugs' to protest moral policing

Youngsters held a demonstration on Wednesday outside the Tollygunj Metro Station in Kolkata against the alleged moral policing incident in a train on Tuesday and offered "free hugs" to people to lodge their protest.

"We are doing nothing ... we are here just to spread love. Love will overpower everything. We have nothing more to say," a demonstrator said.

The protesters were enraged over an incident taking place on Monday late evening when a couple was beaten up for "standing too close" in a Metro train.

"Be it love or anger or cruelty, it's all about expression. We are trying to spread positive expression, to do away with all the negativities around," said a girl protester.

"How can anyone hit like this? I have my personal freedom of expression and this is meaningless?" said a young man outside Tollygunge Metro.

The city Metro officials also made it clear that they were against any kind of moral policing.

"It is a peaceful protest. No one has complained about any difficulty due to the protest," said a Kolkata Metro official.

"Dear commuters, there is a fake post circulating in the social media claiming that Metro Railway supports the passengers who allegedly thrashed the couple. The fact is that Metro Railway, Kolkata, strongly condemns the unfortunate incident and is against moral policing," the authority said in its Facebook page.

Metro railway's CPRO Indrani Banerjee had on Tuesday said people were well within their right to register their protest, but this should not disrupt train services in any manner.

--IANS

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