Moral
Policing Growing as a Voyeuristic Culture
A
society has its own beliefs, rules and practices. The way of thinking, behaving
or working that exists in a particular society that defines the collective
attitudes, ideologies and beliefs of that society can be referred to as the
existing culture of that society. Sometimes the term culture defines the
patterns life and the moral codes and values that should be followed by the
people in order to be accepted as a fitting member of that society. Any
deviation from this presupposed codes and values may be considered as something
offensive or punishable, especially in the eyes of those who pose themselves as
the guardians of the existing culture. At the same time this may cause trouble
to those who try to embrace or adapt an alien culture that may be quite
different from their native culture and may be considered as unacceptable by
the so called “guardians” of the traditional culture.
India
is a country with a unique and different culture which is prevalent in the
country since ages. The Indian culture is often labeled as the amalgamation of
several cultures that span across the nation. But in every society there will
be people who likes to think differently and who desires to live according to
the way of the world. For the past few decades India witnessed an infiltration
of the trends and cultures from other countries into the supposedly pure Indian
culture. People have termed them Western trends and cultures as most of them
have their root in the Western countries. While many of the people, especially
the daring youngsters accepted this innovation, those people who support the
traditional Indian culture and customs saw it as the adulteration of the pure
Indian culture. These people started protesting against these trends and
cultures and against those who follow them. They believe that they are obliged
to protect the Indian culture from being adulterated by the infiltration of the
Western traits. They presuppose certain
moral codes and they want others to follow those codes at any cost. These
people who pose themselves as the protectors of the traditional culture and
oppose the Western culture are called moral police and what they do in order to
make sure that the moral codes that they believe is followed by others is
called moral policing.
According
to these people the Western culture is spoiling our culture and spoiling the
youth population of our country .They think that in India, which has its own
culture, there is no place for this alien trends and every one live according
to the conventional trends. Any deviation from the traditional norms is
considered punishable. If there is no provision in the Indian law to punish
them, it become their responsibility to do that. They particularly target the
youth, who are thought to be more prone to follow the western traits like,
public acts of love or wearing western dress etc.
Moral
policing has pros and cones. But the way in which those who consider themselves
as moral police act, especially in the
Indian context, makes the case complicated and give moral policing a black
shade. Moral policing is positive if they are trying to avoid any acts of
public nuisances, but now a days this is not the case. Moral polices usually
try to make sure that a set of values are being adopted and followed by
everybody in their control region. There are two types of moral policing: 1)
truly believing that your morals are correct and they are the only way for the
better future of your control region. With this as basis you want to ensure
that everyone else agrees with it and adopts it. 2) Using morals just as means
to gather mass and acquire control. It doesn't really matter whether you truly
believe in it. You just need to create an illusion that you are guardian of the
aforesaid values. The case become more complicated when one adopts the second
strategy. In that case, moral policing becomes more of a “show off”.
Many
weird cases of moral policing has shocked the sensibility of the Indian
society. The moral police mainly target the inter-caste/religion love affairs or
love affairs in general. They
oppose all types of male-female relationships. They do not accept man and woman
walking together in public spaces, travel together in a car, sit in a room or eat
together in a restaurant. It is evident from the attitude and the acts of the
moral police that the increased case of moral policing in the Indian society is
due to cultural degeneration and sexual starvation.
In
two separate incidents of moral policing in North Kerala’s Kozhikode district,
four persons, including a mother and her son, have been manhandled by different
gangs. Early on Monday, a mother and her son were attacked by a six-member gang
as they were returning by bike from a temple in Kozhikode city after attending
Shivaratri celebrations. On their way to home, the two stopped for food at a
wayside eatery. When they resumed the journey the gang followed them in three
bikes. The assailants waylaid them at a deserted spot and caught hold on the
mother’s hand. They also showered abuse on the mother and slapped the son. One
of them took away the ignition key of the bike.
In
another incident at Parakkadavu in Kozhikode rural district, a college student
was brutally attacked by a gang when he gave lift to a girl in his class. The
boy gave lift to his classmate who had come to attend a marriage at his village
on Sunday afternoon. Police said after the boy dropped the girl at a bus stop
at Parakkadavu, a gang cornered the youth. They took him away to an uninhabited
area for questioning. Later, he was assaulted and kept in custody for a while.
The youth and the girl managed to escape only after police reached the spot.
The
incident of a youth being stripped and brutally assaulted in full public view
by suspected right-wing activists in Mangalore once again brought the subject
of moral policing to the fore. The Muslim youth was reportedly beaten up for
being in the company of a Hindu girl in the communally sensitive area of
Mangalore.
In
April this year, a youth in Kerala’s Thrissur district was beaten to death by a
mob after being found in the house of a woman. Initial police probe indicated
that the incident was the outcome of moral policing. Even though the young man
was rushed to the hospital, he died on the way.
Three people were arrested by the police in
Maharashtra’s Latur district after they allegedly robbed and brutally assaulted
a young couple. The gang thrashed the couple and even filmed the act.
The
Siva Sena workers chasing away the young couples in marine drive at Kochi, was
a great news in the Indian media. Lathi-wielding Sena workers reportedly
threatened and shooed away the girls and boys who were sitting at marine drive.
Even the couples were asked to leave the place immediately or face
consequences. Local police men turned mute spectator as about 20 Sena workers
attacked youngsters on the pretext of women safety during a protest march at
Kochi. Later a campaign called “Kiss of Love “was organize by the members of a
Facebook group along with other social activist against the moral policing
incident held in marine drive. The agitation began with a street play against
the self-proclaimed moral cops which was followed by the ‘kissing protest’.
The
moral police do not only focus on love relations but they also shows contempt
against the dressing and hair styles and appearances. There are case when women
have been victims of moral policing because of their dress code. There are many
moral policing groups against the western dress code of girls. They think that
girls should wear only Indian dresses. According to them, wearing jeans,
skirts, tunics, and frocks would attract men and they believe that if a man
misbehaves with a woman the soul reason for this is the woman herself and her
dressing pattern. The moral police believes that their involvement will serve
for the betterment of the society.
There
are other case when the cops themselves take the role of moral police. Recently
a 19-year-old dalit boy committed suicide allegedly after police torture and
harassment. Vinayakan, who was taken into custody from Pavaratty in Thrissur, Kerala,
was compelled to go for a haircut as the police was unhappy with his hairstyle.
He
hanged himself possibly due to custodial torture by cops who picked him up on
suspicion for being a member of a gang involved in chain-snatching incidents.
What made him a suspect in the first place was reportedly his unconventional
looks - his striking hairdo and ear studs.It is very evident that all these are
clear cases of denial of individual freedom.
Indian
culture is to be preserved. But the so called moral police should accept the
fact that Indian culture is not against love or any other kinds of man- woman relationships.
It is ironic that such moral restrictions are happening in a culture which
produced Khajurao and the Sun temple of Puri and the Ajanta and Ellora caves
which have a number of statues explicitly explaining and showing in detail what
the moral police call immorality these days. In many case moral policing has
become a kind of voyeurism, the act of gaining a kind of sexual pleasure by
indulging in the personal matters of others. This makes it clear that many case of moral policing is due to a kind
of sexual starvation felt by the Indians.
It is very evident that India has a
culture which is very unique and different from other culture. Since the olden
times, Indians showed a tendency to preserve their culture and tried to make
sure that it is not adulterated by the infiltration of other cultures. Before
the prevailing trend of nuclear families, people in India used to live in
groups and they used to monitor the morality of their co-m beings and made sure
that all are following the existing values. Such practices are played an
important role in forming the culture and values of India. The present
generation of India has followed this tradition. But today the case has become
extreme. The advocates of morality have taken up the role of cops and today
moral policing has become a mere show or display of mob strength or in a way it
has become a way to mock or humiliate a vulnerable person or a group. Sometimes
moral policing turns to be an instance of religious, racial or gender
exploitation. Moral policing is good if its intention is to make sure that
nothing immoral is happening in the society. But the problem is, who defines
the morality. When morality becomes a case of personal or group interest, moral
policing become the denial of personal freedom and right.
References
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_police
http://www.fuccha.in/moral-policing
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-definition-of-moral-policing
https://www.ndtv.com/cities/to-protest-moral-policing-kisses-and-hugs-at-kochis-marine-drive-1668100
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/moral-policing-rears-itsugly-head-in-kochi-again/article17428969.ece/amp/
https://targetstudy.com/articles/moral-policing-pros-and-cons.html
https://www.google.co.in/amp/indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala-man-victim-of-moral-policing-ends-his-life-4540962/lite/
http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2017/07/29/loknath-behera-criticise-kerala-police-for-vinayakan-suicide-moral-policing.html
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