Women activists demand disbanding of anti-Romeo squads

A group of women's rights activists has demanded disbanding of 'anti-Romeo squads' in Uttar Pradesh and withdrawal of an FIR registered against lawyer- politician Prashant Bhushan over his remarks against Lord Krishna.
"Anti-Romeo Squads are operating outside the purview of law... Which threatens women's freedoms. The serious issue of violence against women and routine sexual harassment of women in Uttar Pradesh cannot be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads.
"These squads impose their own aggressive and arbitrary code through moral policing. It has already come to light that in many cases, these groups have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men," the group of 22 women right's activists said in a joint statement.

The women activists suggested that the Uttar Pradesh government "consult groups, which have been working to end sexual harassment and violence against women for a long time, to develop mechanisms to fight such cases".
The women's rights workers, including Aruna Roy of the National Federation of Indian Women, Syeda Hameed of the Muslim Women's Forum and lawyer Indira Jaising, also demanded withdrawal of an FIR against Bhushan over his tweet mentioning Lord Krishna.
"Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary eve-teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes anti-Krishna squads?" the Swaraj Abhiyan leader had tweeted on Sunday.

He had, however, apologised for his remarks.

"The FIR registered against advocate Prashant Bhushan by Hazratganj Police is a clear case of abuse of power as no such offence is made out on the basis of the tweet in question.
"This is yet another example of the prevailing high level of intolerance to opinion that is at variance from the majoritarian viewpoint," the statement said.
Anti-Romeo squads were introduced by the Yogi Adityanath government in UP to check incidents of eve-teasing.