Mumbai Police Don’t Want To Be Moral Police!

 

On Friday, the Mumbai Police slapped a criminal case on Urfi Javed, a model known for her quirky outfits and idiosyncratic style, and charged her with impersonation, cheating and defamation. Urfi has been posting pictures and videos donning the other-worldly attires and this has earned her a celebrity status. However, her antiques landed her in trouble when last week she played a prank that offended the men in uniform. With three actors who posed as cops, Urfi staged her “arrest” outside a coffee shop in Oshiwara. In the video, the cops were seen pushing her into an SUV and scolding her for wearing an “obscene” dress, which was a red-coloured sleeveless and backless top. Initially, when the video went viral, people thought that she had been really arrested. However, when the top police officers were deluged with calls from the crime reporters, they clarified that they hadn’t arrested Urfi. The cops swung into action and booked Urfi and the three actors. One male actor, who posed as an Inspector was arrested and the vehicle used in the video was seized.

What prompted the Mumbai Police to act swiftly in the case was the fear of being blamed of moral policing. It is not the business of the police to determine what the citizens should wear and what constitutes obscenity. Such a prank by Urfi had the potential to dent the reputation of a police force which is responsible for maintaining law and order in India’s most modern and cosmopolitan city. It is good to know that the Mumbai Police cares for its reputation and doesn’t want to be seen as a moral police. However, there have been numerous instances in the past where it has been established that the force indeed has been indulging in moral policing.

I remember a case in 2015 when the Mumbai Police raided several hotels in the Madh and Aksa areas of the city. Around 60 adult youngsters were caught on charges of indecent behaviour and booked under section 110 of the Bombay Police Act.  Among the arrested were 13 couples. The raids were conducted in the afternoon and the policemen knocked on the doors of the rooms occupied by the couples and pulled them out. Their parents were called to the police station.  The matter was brought before the Bombay High Court and the judges came down heavily upon the police. After the strictures from the court, Rakesh Maria, then Mumbai Police Commissioner, issued an instruction that the policemen must refrain from moral policing.

The case of dance bars is another example of the uniformed men’s tendency to moral police. Although the dance bars, which were an inherent part of Mumbai’s nightlife, were banned in 2005, the legal battle fought by the bar owners led to the rejection of the ban by the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court. However, the Mumbai Police always found ways to circumvent the court orders and issued a strict set of rules that disallowed them to run the bars in the traditional forms. In a way, a section of the police was against the ban due to the “advantages” they derived from the bars, however, it was primarily the policy of the state government which they had to enforce.

Moral policing is still practiced in Mumbai and many couples in love and courtship get a taste of it when they go to some secluded place for privacy and get caught. Apart from the police, political parties have also indulged in moral policing. There was a time when Shiv Sainiks raided pubs and discotheques on 14 February where Valentine’s Day celebrations were organised. They destroyed any red heart-shaped artwork and threatened greeting card sellers. All this was done in the name of preserving the Indian culture and combatting the influence of Western culture on the youngsters. Such acts of moral policing have presented a paradoxical image of Mumbai.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and present of Mumbai.)