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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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
