Anti-romeo squads in UP

The era of Yogi has begun in the most populous state of India i.e. Uttar Pradesh. Anti-Romeo squads are doing rounds on the street of U.P. in an attempt to catch hold of eve-teasers in the city. It is a welcome step as it would help in empowering the women by making them more safe and secure but how far it could be implemented successfully is yet to be seen.

The weakest link in the chain is the enforcing authority which is the police force of the state. To people's dismay, the police of the state are not sensitized enough to deal with these issues amicably.

Firstly, often they are on the other side of the fence as an eve-teasers. The askance look with which they view a mini-skirt clad women or the derogatory manner in which they deal with a lawful couple in itself raises eyebrows over their own capacity to deal with such issues. For example, police tonsured the head of a couple of such Romeos. This speaks volume about the unprofessional manner of policing.

Secondly, the false positives and the media coverage given to such cases shed an alarming threat to this policy. For example, two siblings were caught by police and despite their repeated request, police did not heed to their plea. In a culture where any two opposite sex teens who roam together are considered love birds, it is difficult to enforce these anti-Romeo guidelines in a proper manner.

Thirdly, the enforcing authority itself suffers from the bug of patriarchy. What kind of real empowerment could they bring then? This needs to be busted first. In fact, this is not just limited to the police personnel. Rather the political leadership needs to refine their views on the issue of patriarchy.

Till now the anti-Romeo squads have not transceded to the boundary of fascism where women is to motherhood as men is to war. But only time will tell, how the real implementation will unfold. As a measure of change and statement of resolve to make UP a Uttam Pradesh, this is a good beginning but we need to carefully watch its implementation.