AntiRomeo squads strike terror
QUITE UNROMANTIC Swarna Jayanti Park, Ghaziabad’s biggest public park, looked quiet and gloomy on Sunday as frightened couples stayed away
It’s completely ridiculous. At least define the behaviours that are wrong so that couples or singles know they are annoying some sections of society. This is invading someone’s personal space. This is nonsense. ANSHUL SRIVASTAV If a couple is doing bad things, then it’s wrong. Youngsters should understand they shouldn’t get too intimate in public. But to pick up random men in the name of women’s safety is not right. Moral policing is not right. ROHAN RAGHUNATH
GHAZIABAD: March 26 was the first Sunday after the Uttar Pradesh government set off its anti-Romeo squad on prowl, and the mood in Ghaziabad’s biggest public park was gloomy.
“Between 300 and 400 couples visit the park every day, but since 21 March, only 5-10 have showed up,” said Atul Kumar, the ticket seller at the entrance of Swarna Jayanti park.
What happened on 21 March? A contingent of Ghaziabad’s anti-Romeo squad raided the park and picked up nine young men who looked like “Romeos” to them.
Kumar doesn’t think the young men were up to any mischief. “They were with friends. They had come to study, roam, have fun; they weren’t disturbing anyone. Shouldn’t the police go after men who have harassed someone? One of them was studying with a group of young women who kept saying to the police that he was with them, but he was dragged away,” he said.
Only a few single men could be spotted in this 250-acre park on this evening—and even fewer couples. No couple has been picked up from this park yet, but no one wants to take a chance. On Friday, a couple was arrested from the Ambedkar Park in Noida in a clear breach of the UP chief minister’s direction to the police to leave couples alone. Three police officers were suspended the next day for breaking the rule, but the action hasn’t inspired much faith in the hearts of Ghaziabad’s terrified youth.
“Can you see any couple around here?” says a young man sitting by himself on a bench, his eyes fixed on his phone screen, his ears plugged in. Anshul Srivastav has been coming to the park for over a year, either alone or “with a date.” Usually, the park is so full of couples that you can’t find a single bench to sit. Today, every second bench is vacant,” Srivastav said.
No amount of state-sanctioned moral policing will break his spirit though, he said. “It’s completely ridiculous. At least define the behaviours that are wrong so that couples or singles know that they are annoying some sections of society. This is totally invading someone’s personal space. This is nonsense.”
It was business as usual in the park on a Sunday evening for rest of the people in this part of Ghaziabad. Married couples were pumping away calories in the open gym; families were taking boat rides around the lake; and large groups of old men were chilling out under gazebos. But all one has to do to break the calm is utter three words: anti-Romeo squad! Yogi Adityanath’s move may or may not make women safe in UP, but what it’s already done is make everyone start a debate with their internal moral police.
“How can you define a Romeo? Who can say that the police won’t target harmless young men to make some quick money? What’s the guarantee that couples won’t be picked on in the name of keeping women safe,” a group of old men sitting under a gazebo ask. Everyone agrees with everyone else.
One member of the seniors’ gang try to offer a different view. “But what about young couples who are doing wrong things in the park, who are seen in objectional situations?” The opinion is shot down by the majority. “But why are you looking? Isn’t it our fault for nosing into their business?” others ask.
Rupa Bansal, a young woman out for a brisk walk around the park, has serious doubts about the police’s motive. “First, figure out who is your target. If a couple is just sitting together, you shouldn’t mess with them. If a man is actively harassing women—stalking them or passing comments — then he should be dealt with. Whether it’s a special Romeo squad who does it or any other form of police, is not our concern,” Bansal said.
Rohan Raghunath, sitting at a chaste distance from his new wife, said, “If a couple is doing bad things, then it’s wrong. Young generation should understand that they shouldn’t get too intimate in a public place. But to pick up random men in the name of women’s safety is not right. Moral policing is not right.”
Young people in the park are less liberal than the old on the subject of things young people should and shouldn’t do here. Like Raghunath, Anshul Srivastav, who earlier railed against the invasion of his privacy, thinks it’s still a couple’s duty to draw the line. “The couples should be cautious on weekends. They shouldn’t become too physical also. Families come with children on weekends. They get influenced by what they see.”
One thing comes out clearly of spending a Sunday evening in the Ghaziabad park: no two people have the same view on UP police’s new task.
This what two people sitting less than 20 metres from each other said about the effect of antiRomeo raids on the life of the park, “The police have put terror in the hearts of the young. No couple has come to the park for the last two days.”
“It’s a good start. Number of couples in this park is down by 90 percent. Pehle gandagi thi, Ab safai hai (It should be dirty earlier, but is clean now). Now only good boys and girls are coming.”
However, there is someone here who thinks the park only stands to lose from this development. The ticket-seller is clear: “You made ₹2,800 from one gate in a day”—the entry through either of the park’s two gates is priced at ₹5 — “Now you are making ₹1,400.”