TNN
Bangalore, Apr 29: The pub attack in Mangalore hogged all the headlines, and the moral outrage. But, there have many more instances of cultural policing in Dakshina Kannada. And it continues unabated. Now, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) even has a number -- 27 instances occurred in March and April.
PUCL activists told TOI the pattern typically was to segregate boys and girls belonging to different communities and harass those belonging to the minority ones. "Segregation and harassment of women and minorities are the two aspects we notice of moral policing in Dakshina Kannada. After we released a report on this in March, we came across 27 more instances of cultural policing in the past two months. Local newspapers have been reporting such instances though they haven't attracted the attention of bigger Bangalore-based ones. Our concern is how segregation and harassment are going on quietly," PUCL activists said.
PUCL says 45 instances of cultural policing occurred over a six-month period -- August 2008 to February 2009. In early March, PUCL released its report after fact-finding by a team comprising Shakun Mohini of Vimochana, B N Usha of Hengasara Hakkina Sangha (Women's Rights Group), Arvind Narrain of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) and Ramdas Rao of PUCL visited Mangalore in February.
The report states that "social apartheid" is at work -- a practice of segregating communities on the basis of religion and gender by self-styled vigilante groups as well as prescribing appropriate behaviour and conduct for separate communities.
The report `Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada: Vigilante Attacks on Women and Minorities, 2008-09' states that cultural policing has been going on both before and after the Mangalore pub attacks. Unlike Bangalore, the district has not seen any significant opposition to the activities of right-wing groups.