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Barking up the wrong tree
 Nearly ten men, all aged between 20 to 32, were arrested and remanded by the Chennai City Police alleging that they indulged in indecent activities at the Anna Nagar Tower Park Chennai City. Their crime – they were chatting with their girlfriends. In the eyes of the overzealous police, these girls were considered sex workers!
Young lovers and sometimes even friends, conversing at public places like the beach and parks used to has been a common sight from time immemorial. In the history of Tamil Nadu Police, such activities were never construed as grave crimes. In the past, police officers did not intervene and play spoilsport. They kept away when it came to social relationships between individuals.
In order to ensure that decency was maintained in public places and that there was no room for violent or criminal activity, police would merely ask couples in secluded spots to move to places where there was public movement. This was purely a precautionary measure to prevent the odd-case of harassment, robbery or rape. In some cases, when minor boys and girls were found at such places, the police would inform their parents by way of caution to prevent untoward incidents.
But the recent act of the Chennai City Police in arresting the lovers and sending the men to jail to be lodged with convicted criminals has shocked the citizens. They were lodged in Chennai and Vellore prison for a couple of days before being released on bail. When contacted, majority of those arrested, told mediapersons that they had merely conversed with their colleagues or girlfriends at the park when the police forced them to get into a police van. To add insult to injury, the City Police had taken photographs of these men. The photographs were published in leading dailies, portraying them as if they were dreaded criminals.
 They were later informed in the court that they had been booked for the offence of 'Eve Teasing', under section 509 Indian Penal Code (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of women). Most of the arrested men are educated. One of them is a post-graduate student. The family members of an arrested person, in voice choked with emotion, said that their family was aware of the friendship between the youth and the girl and they were shocked to hear that their son was arrested by the police. Worse still, they were even more shocked to find his picture being released to the media by the police.
Commenting on the action of the Police, former Director General of Police V R Lakshminarayanan had remarked that “It was most unfortunate that the Police had released the list of names of men along with their photographs to the media after their arrests." He added that he himself was a regular visitor to the park and did not find any alarming situation. The Chennai Police must change their attitude, the retired DGP had observed.
However, Deputy Commissioner Karuna Sagar, justifying police action, has said that all the girls who were found with the men were sex workers.
The parents of these youths find it disturbing that the girls should be branded as sex workers, when all that happened was they were with friends or boyfriends. Had the police raided a lodge on information that sex workers were employed there, there might have been some justification for police action. However, in this case the police should realise no sex worker would be taken to a place like a public park. Therefore, to call girlfriends sex workers was totally uncalled for, reprehensible and downright condemnable, say their parents.
Only an act which is prohibited by a criminal law can be termed a crime. Arresting conversing lovers in a public park and booking them under 'Eve Teasing' cannot be justified in any manner, they point out.
The Chennai City Police, which has got several achievements to boast of, should desist from carrying out such steps in the future, at least not humiliate the persons concerned, taint and malign them, which would affect a number of individuals and families.
Harvey
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