By IANS,
New Delhi : Terming last month’s Mangalore pub incident in which some young women were beaten up in the name of moral policing as “a black spot on women’s rights”, four NGOs have come together to organise a mass protest in the capital Tuesday.
Expected to be supported by a number of other civil society groups and students, the protest will be held in front of the Karnataka Bhavan in south Delhi.
“We are trying to get in touch with as many people as we possibly can to come and join the protest. Such kind of moral policing is simply not tolerable in a civilised and democratic society that we claim to be a part of,” Rituparna Borah of ‘Nirantar’, one of the NGOs organising the protest, told IANS.
Around 40 members of the right-wing Sri Rama Sene barged into a Mangalore pub in Karnataka and bashed up several young women Jan 24, infuriating people from all sections, especially the youth.
“The focus of the protest will of course be the Mangalore incident. But the fact remains that this is not an isolated incident of such mindless moral policing. Such a trend has to be stopped,” Borah added.
Besides ‘Nirantar’, the other NGOs which are organising the protest are ‘Jagori’, ‘Sama’ and ‘Saheli’, all of which work on women’s rights issues. Organisations like the Northeast Support Centre are supporting the protest.
“We are also preparing a memorandum highlighting that such acts of moral policing should be stopped. Also some comments of ministers and member of the National Commission for Women has been in a bad taste.
“After taking the protesters’ comments on the issue, we will submit the memorandum to the resident commissioner of Karnataka,” Borah said.