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Kerala: Facing moral policing from cops, couple live-streams video on Facebook

However, Vishnu live-streamed the entire incident on Facebook. Turning the tables, he started questioning the cops

Couples have often faced the wrath of local vigilantes indulging in moral policing but where would a victim go if the police start harassing them.

Just a week after the Valentine’s Day, a Kerala couple were taken to police station and were accused of indulging in “vulgar actions in public space”. Vishnu and Aarathy were sitting at a public park in Thiruvananthapuram when two women constables approached and started quizzing them.

Seeing the manner in which he was being interrogated, Vishnu started live-streaming the incident on Facebook and questioned the cops, “Tell us what vulgar activity have we committed? Did we kiss? There are cameras here. Did we hug each other? You can’t harass us just because we have our arm on the other’s shoulder!”

The women constables called their male colleagues who told the couple to come to the police station where they were fined Rs 200 for causing ‘public nuisance’.

Speaking to an English news channel, Aarathy said, “The Police had no answer to our question of what wrong we had committed. We just signed the fine slip and left. We are going to marry soon anyway so that we could take them on.”