Kolkata youngsters offer 'free hugs' to protest moral policing
Kolkata, May 2: Youngsters held a demonstration on Wednesday outside the Tollygunj Metro Station in Kolkata against the alleged moral policing incident in a train on Tuesday and offered "free hugs" to people to lodge their protest.
"We are doing nothing ... we are here just to spread love. Love will overpower everything. We have nothing more to say," a demonstrator said.
The protesters were enraged over an incident taking place on Monday late evening when a couple was beaten up for "standing too close" in a Metro train.
"Be it love or anger or cruelty, it's all about expression. We are trying to spread positive expression, to do away with all the negativities around," said a girl protester.
"How can anyone hit like this? I have my personal freedom of expression and this is meaningless?" said a young man outside Tollygunj Metro.
The city Metro officials also made it clear that they were against any kind of moral policing.
"It is a peaceful protest. No one has complained about any difficulty due to the protest," said a Kolkata Metro official.
"Dear commuters, there is a fake post circulating in the social media claiming that Metro Railway supports the passengers who allegedly thrashed the couple. The fact is that Metro Railway, Kolkata, strongly condemns the unfortunate incident and is against moral policing," the authority said in its Facebook page.
Metro railway's CPRO Indrani Banerjee had on Tuesday said people were well within their right to register their protest, but this should not disrupt train services in any manner.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
