Introspecting Aloud

Report on Cultural Policing in Dakshin Kannada

Just found out from this post about the report on Cultural Policing in Dakshin Kannada(PDF) just released by The People's Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka (PUCL-K). An interesting excerpt mentioned in the blog post:

As one observer, who has been covering the events in Dakshina Kannada, put it, "Today saffron is the colour of power. You just walk around with a big red tilak and see how people treat you. Right from the shop keeper to the bus conductor to the policeman, everybody gives you respect. Without the tilak you are nothing, with the tilak you become a power structure." Munir Kattipalya of the DYFI echoes this sentiment when he says, "This district is not only communalized but also progressively criminalized." What is indicated by such statements is that there is a strong link between communalization and criminalization. It is precisely because the state has chosen not to act when criminal activities are perpetrated under the garb of religion that criminal elements now feel that they have the sanction to perpetrate violence and Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada other forms of intimidation by using the garb of religion. This possibly explains the proliferation of vigilante groups in Dakshina Kannada.

Mangaloreans Protest Against Moral Policing

Nirmukta reports about a meeting held on 20th February by like minded citizens of Mangalore ( as well people across Karnataka) protesting against the recent events of moral policing, the compliant state administration, and the current unsafe social environment in the city. I had somehow missed one of the many reported incidents from Mangalore mentioned in the post.

They had the temerity to stop a bus carrying students of a college which had boys and girls from various communities going on an educational tour from their college. This was despite of the parents of the girls telling them that the girls were going with their permission. This incident had taken place bang in front of the Police Head quarters with the police standing as mute spectators. The same bus had to go on the next morning with two police escorts at the front and back. One can imagine the state of affairs if adult students of a college going on an official tour with the permission of their parents have to have a police escort!

As expected, an attempt was made to prevent this meeting. One of the speakers was threatened  thus.

These groups had tried a number of methods to stop this meeting including, threatening an elderly lady, Mrs. Lalitha Nayak an Ex-Minister of Karnataka with rape if she attended it. This was highlighted by her in her address. She was not angry but only lamented the state of affairs in which young men of the age of her grandsons made such threats. She also wondered as to what culture they were protecting with threats of that sort!

Interestingly the mayor of Mangalore got quite a few barbs for his recent filing of FIR against Renuka Chowdhury. The author of the Nirmukta post is Narendra Nayak, who also happens to be the president of the federation of Indian Rationalist Associations which he was representing at the meeting. Remarking about the mayor FIR, he reminded the mayor how the term Talibanisation of Mangalore was mentioned by him, a citizen of Mangalore, way before Renuka and how the publication which printed his views was prosecuted for the views.

The attitude of the Mayor of Mangalore City was also heavily criticized. He had filed a criminal case against a minister of the   central govt., Ms. Renuka Choudhary, for making a statement that Mangalore had been talibanised. He was reminded that, six months before she had made the statement, an article under the heading Talibanis of Dakshina Kannada had been published in September, 2008 in a local eveninger- Karavali Ale. The Mayor was challenged to dare to prosecute the author of the same- Narendra Nayak, the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. In my speech, I told the Mayor that it was my opinion about what was happening in the city and that I had more of a right to make that statement being a native of the same city and having been born much before him (the mayor). The story of the hounding of the owner of Karavali Ale is another saga of the fight of a determined man to preserve the freedom of press and expression in a democracy. Mr. Seetaram was hounded by the police, arrested and taken in handcuffs as if he was a dangerous criminal. He was finally released after a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Karnataka High court.