Protests outside Kolkata Metro station after couple 'being too close' attacked

A protest was held on Tuesday outside a Kolkata Metro station after a young couple was reportedly harassed and beaten for "being too close" after boarding the metro train on Monday late evening.

However, no complaint was lodged with the metro rail authority, an official said on Tuesday.

"A group of older men beats up a couple in Kolkata Metro for hugging and being too close. Just everyday bhadralok anger at a hint of pleasure punctures myth of Kolkata as some liberal utopia that not even it's most deluded citizen believes," read the twitter post of a citizen.

The young couple was reportedly bombarded with embarrassing questions followed by punches, kicks, and slaps.

"A young couple embraced in Kolkata metro. It made a bunch of frustrated old losers angry. They beat them up. Scenes of hatred are allowed. Scenes of love are considered obscene," writer Tasleema Nasreen said in a tweet.

"Unfortunately there has been no complaint lodged as yet and this makes it very difficult to conduct an inquiry. Had there been some sort of a complaint from somebody, we could have proceeded," Kolkata Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee told IANS.

"It is becoming very difficult to get to the bottom of the incident," she added.

Asked how they would handle the protests being staged outside Dumdum Metro Station, she said: "I have just come to know about the protest. People are well within their rights to register their protest but this should not disrupt our services in any manner."

She also said that the metro railway is "against moral policing".

--IANS

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