After several complaints of harassment by the civilians against the newly formed ‘anti-Romeo squad’ in Uttar Pradesh, the police chief has figured out few dos and don’ts in a series of letters issued recently. The new guidelines assigned to the squad includes no hair-shaving, blackening of the face or murga punishment. In addition, there should be no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and colour. The Director General of Police (DGP) Javeed Ahmed has said this in a letter to his force.
Moreover, the letter says,”Couples sitting in public places should not be asked for IDs, questioned, frisked or humiliated.”
This drive was started soon after Yogi Adityanath swore in as the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the Bharatiya Janat Party governmnet was formed. The motive of this squad was to eradicate the eve teasers on the city streets and thus the term has been given a name ‘anti-Romeo squad’.
Since the squad came in action, a number of young men have been seen doing sit ups or ‘uthak-baithak’ or they have been asked to sit in the ‘murga‘ position while the cops watch. But according to the new guidelines, these practices have been abolished.
“The cops in the squad will be assessed by officials and briefed by senior policemen before set out each day,” said DGP Ahmed.
Recently two cousins were hauled up by the police and they were allowed to leave only after their parents were forced to give bribe. In another case in Agra, a policeman was caught on camera while he was harassing a woman during the squad was in action.
