Couple thrashed for getting too close

Kolkata, a city known for its liberal ethos, seems to be falling prey to moral policing, too. And that too in Kolkata Metro, when a young couple was allegedly beaten up for public display of affection – they were exchanging innocuous hugs in the train!

An account of the incident was shared in Anandabazar Patrika, where an eyewitness narrated how the young couple was allegedly assaulted by co-passengers after they got into a verbal altercation.

"It hurts to reckon with the fact that Kolkata, the city that I have known for decades, is actually this unsafe,’’ the eyewitness wrote in Bengali.

Things came to a head when other co-passengers teamed up with the aged person and started abusing and threatening the couple. "So far, only one person was yelling. But now, seeing the young guy giving it back to the aged man stirred up the 'conscience' of others on the train," wrote the eyewitness. "One by one, they started raising their voice. Nobody was chiding the couple anymore; they had graduated to threats, 'Get down at Dum Dum, we'll see you!'" was the gist of it all.

When the train reached Dum Dum, the eyewitness says, the mob "dragged the young man off the metro" and began assaulting him. In images taken on a mobile phone late on Monday night, the woman is seen trying to shield the man with her body. In the bold attempt,

She became a target of the mob's "punches, kicks and slaps."

Witnesses say both were beaten on the platform until some passengers from another coach intervened and dragged the couple to safety.

Social media is livid over the incident with the likes of Taslima Nasreen expressing their outrage. Surprisingly ‘liberal’ Kolkata is divided over public display of affection.