One month later: UP CM Yogi's Anti-Romeo squads fizzle out in Meerut

There is consensus among the students that the crackdown has had some positive effect on the ground

The anti-Romeo squad seems to have fizzled out. Almost a month after Uttar Pradesh’s new chief minister Yogi Adityanath launched his ‘anti-Romeo squad’ initiative to crack down on sexual harassment of women at public places, Meerut has slipped back to its usual self, reports the Hindustan Times.

He announced the formation of the squads amid much fanfare and publicity. The police too in at least 11 districts of the country’s most populous state responded with alacrity: raiding parks, malls and colleges to deter eve-teasers.

According to the report in Hindustan Times, RG Girls’s College was one such place where a posse of policemen led by the city superintendent of police Alok Priyadarshi had descended on in the immediate aftermath of the CM’s announcement. On March 22, the police detained 15 ‘Romeos’ from across the town in western UP.

But revisiting the same spots that witnessed the crackdown nearly a month later revealed no traces of the frenetic police activity. April 21 will mark one month since Adityanath announced the measure to bolster women's’ safety.

Not a single policeman was spotted at RG Girls’ College on Monday, though some men sauntered around rather suspiciously. Some said they were there to buy grocery, others said they were simply passing by.

But there is a consensus among the students that the crackdown has had some positive effect on the ground.