February 05, 2025

What is our society coming to? Is there to be no privacy from now on? A young man proposed to a girl in public and they hugged after a happy ending. Someone shot a video of the whole episode and posted it online. Now the couple is in trouble with self-styled guardians of morality in their hometown Bhiwandi near Mumbai. It does not matter that the couple were Muslim. It could have happened even if they belonged to a different religion, as every religion has a surfeit of such guardians whose sole job is to unnecessarily poke their nose in the private affairs of others.

Shakeel Raza of Raza Academy has forced Salim, the young lover, to release a video saying it was a huge mistake and he repents indulging in the un-Islamic act. Others like Baddiuzzamman Khan of the National Lokhind Party wanted the couple to do squats in public. The traumatized young couple has left Bhiwandi for an undisclosed location.

One understands that some Indians are still uncomfortable with public displays of affection, more so in small towns like Bhiwandi. But the couple did nothing extreme. A hug is nowadays commonplace. The reaction of these self-styled guardians is despicable. They just want to exercise control over the community and get some cheap publicity in the bargain. The youth must rise against such elements.

One is also angered as to why someone would record the incident and then post it on social media. Do people have nothing else to do than to poke their noses in other people’s business? Something like a marriage proposal is not a funny thing. Whoever did this should have respected the couple’s privacy. A smart phone does not give one the license to record and publish other peoples’ act without their permission.

Society has to be on its guard against these self-styled guardians of morality. These busy bodies have nothing else to do but to create barriers according to their own view of religion or culture. It can be a marriage proposal and a hug today, a diktat not to celebrate Valentine’s Day tomorrow, a ban on girls having smart phones or a call to impose curfew hours in hostels as girls have “hormonal outbursts”. If this goes on, it can be anything that catches their fancy from now on. Hence, they must be told to keep their ideas to themselves and let the citizens live their lives as per their own choice and wish.