Bengaluru: The capital city is all set to hold Kiss of love campaign tomorrow as decided earlier. The Kiss of love campaigners are determined not to give in to the opposition, despite all the hullabaloo to stop the kiss fest. With this form of protest against moral policing, Bengaluru seems uncomfortable with its firm decision to hold the event on the same day inspite of no permission from the govt as well as the police. Interestingly the cities which initially started the event called off the event after opposition from the public as well as govt, but in Bengaluru its not being called off.
Prominent advocate and women’s activist Pramila Nesargi who strongly opposes the event opined that events like kiss of love give importance to elements like Pramod Muthalik. Protesting against moral policing is not wrong but not at the cost of giving fanatics more than their due share of attention”.
Even the police who have denied permission to hold such an event say that this is a protest, which Bengaluru has not come across before.
DG and IGP S.T. Ramesh said that the police is used to demonstrations, protests and strikes, but kissing in public as a form of protest, is something it has never had to deal with before. Such incidents could put them in a spot as a large number of people could arrive at the Town Hall only to see couples kiss. This could prove a big law and order problem,” he says, adding, “It’s a delicate issue and the police needs to be careful.”
Danish Sheikh, a lawyer with the Alternative Law Forum and a Kiss of Love supporter said that they don’t need permission from the police to hold the protest. According to The Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Processions (Bangalore City) Order of 2009, if there aren’t more than 250 people in a protest, it can go ahead without police permission,” he claims.
He also condemned the police decision not to allow such event calling it obscene.“What is obscenity? Under section 292 of the IPC, any material a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure or object is deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious. but our protest is political in nature. When Manorama was raped and murdered in the northeast, women protested naked against the Army. Technically, this would be obscene, but it was a political protest and hence not considered so,” he argues.
