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Victims to take cops to court
The youngsters who were booked and fined for 'indecent behaviour' on Sunday while they were dancing at a lounge in Malad have decided to take the matter to court by filing a public interest litigation (PIL). They are also planning a seminar protesting the "unjustified" police raid.
The youngsters who were booked and fined for 'indecent behaviour' on Sunday while they were dancing at a lounge in Malad have decided to take the matter to court by filing a public interest litigation (PIL). They are also planning a seminar protesting the "unjustified" police raid.
"We are not going to give up on this matter so easily. We will fight for our rights. We have already met advocates to help with the PIL, which we will file soon," said Maneesh Singh (name changed), one of the youngsters who was booked and fined.
The youngsters have also decided to hold a seminar to discuss this incident in particular, and moral policing in general.
"We will conduct a seminar, most likely this weekend. We will invite a prominent personality to take up this issue," Singh said, adding that the agitation against the raid at Oro lounge and kitchen will be the primary issue.
"The purpose of the seminar is also to debate the arbitrary nature of the moral police, to talk about the need for the police to ensure personal liberty and privacy of individuals and be cautious while charging people," Singh said.
The seminar will also see a discussion of issues such as carrying an identity card to a bar. "There have been incidents where policemen just barge into a bar, start asking for identity cards and fine those who don't have them," Singh said.
DJ Jenny, who started the community 'Stop moral policing in Mumbai' on Facebook, said: "I was a guest DJ at Oro on Saturday night. I was playing music from 11 pm to 12.15 am. Around 15 minutes after that the police barged in and fined several youngsters who had just entered the lounge. They confiscated my equipment and all of us were taken to Bangur Nagar police station. There was no indecent activity at the lounge. It is quite a famous place with call centre employees from the area."
The police said they booked and fined 31 people, but the victims claim of the 70 people rounded up, more than 35 people were fined.
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