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The country has been outraged by a hardline group, the Ram Sene, that recently forced its opinions down the throats of people at a pub in Mangalore.

The self-appointed moral police were protesting against the supposed assault on Indian culture, with women going to pubs. The perpetrators claim that they received complaints that the women were dancing ‘obscenely’ in the pub and this forced them to act.

As the Women and Child Development minister, Renuka Chowdhury rightly put it; these are attempts to Talibanize India. What's even worse is that the government's response to this incident has been tepid at best, although it has outraged citizens across the country.

With the ugly face of moral policing continuing to raise its head every now and then, law enforcement authorities need to take proactive steps to help retain people’s faith in the administration.

Quite clearly, noone has the right to take the law into one's hands, least of all the self-styled moral police. There is a law enforcement mechanism in place to investigate all wrong-doings.

The need of the hour is to make these lumpen elements and their like understand that this is a free country. So, what do you think of what the Ram Sene is saying? On The Big Fight, this week, we debate moral policing and whether it can help India safeguard its 'culture'. Or is it simply a tool used by those with political clout, to achieve short-term goals or perhaps to settle scores?

Cast your vote

Q.Does Indian culture need moral policing?

		Yes
		No
		Can't say

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What's your take?
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Surfers Say

breezenwaves , USA , 123456456 :

Shame on people who did that and who support it.
Shame on the govt who does not have guts to enforce stricter law despite knowing who the culprits are..
I am ashamed to be a citizen of this democratic India that does not have any respect for right of freedom and does not respect women.
Who would want to come and live there if they have to face such hooligansim.

SHAMEFUL !!

2/1/2009 4:15:04 AM

dolly dhillon , lucknow , 9839273631 :

if the sri ram sena feels it is against indian "culture" for girls to be seen at pubs, does it permit boys to do so? if not then why did they single out the hapless girls to commit such inhuman and cowardly act?

2/1/2009 3:26:48 AM

Santosh Joy , Australia , 0061405682888 :

India does not need moral Policiing for sure . What is required is an insight into every persons and politicians moraliity. The recent incidents all over India in different form and shape, has strongly supported my decision to call Australiia my home.One decision which I used to struggle to come to terms with all these years. Thanks for the Eye opener

2/1/2009 3:10:25 AM

Anagha Sonde , Bangalore , --------- :

The issue about Indian Ethos has just arisen now only because some women in Mangalore have visited a pub just like other women have been doing in other cities. What about all these years when men visited pubs? Does the Indian heritage allow men to visit pubs and get drunk? I agree that we live in a conservative society but if progress of the country on moral grounds is expected then i do not think it will be possible if unequal rights are provided to men and women on common issues.

1/31/2009 10:31:17 PM

Ashrav Gupta , Jaipur :

TALIBANIZATION of india shall not be allowed in any way
with valentines day approaching soon i call upon the youngsters to do whatever they like and if anyone like this organization tries to disturb them then get together and beat these people up
if they are 5 million we are more than 5 billion
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS "CURATIVE VOILENCE"
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

1/31/2009 10:30:28 PM

Ashrav Gupta , Jaipur :

There is a need for a new fundamental right called the right to privacy
people should be allowed to make their own personal decisions

1/31/2009 10:10:13 PM

sarita , Kolkata :

Is it Indian culture to asault women? Sri Ram had respected women. Let the Sri Ram Sena practice Sri Ram's teachings and if they were really the followers of Sri Rama then they would not have lowered themselves to animalism

1/31/2009 10:04:45 PM

Shilpa , Bangalore :

They want to talk about Indian culture to find an excise for the violence they have done. When they say Indian culture...what is Indian culture..?? Is beating girls Indian culture ??
In Indian culture...everyone is supposed to respect women folks...where is the respect gone when a girl is raped or eve teasing or a husband stabbing a wife. Why don’t people raise their voice in this issues ?
Is live in relationship Indian culture...??? No...then how come it has been accepted now?? We are supposed to wear khadi & dhotis according to our Indian culture...Y nobody raising voice on that ??
What do we do in pub ??? Drink & dance which has been present in India when the kings were ruling ???
If the politicians really want to do something...please clean up the crime, corruption & make it a clean India.

1/31/2009 9:53:28 PM

V Venugopal , Muscat :

There is absolutely no requirement of moral policing in India. Every citizen be it male or female have equal rights. There is no requirement of any frustrated group of people belonging to ram or ravan sena to do any moral policing. Iam shocked in the manner in which all the accused have been granted bail. Is India a banana republic? I urge the central government to intervene and bring the culprits to books and ban all moral policing outfits in this country. Its a day of SHAME !!

1/31/2009 9:43:50 PM

SOORAJ K M , chennai , 09840296992 :

sir,,
moral policing........
1.what does it means..?
in the sense it means taking law and order.. which is criminal offense.. so the people behind the offense should be brought under the law..
2.why moral policing..?
clearly because of the failure of the democratic nation to protect its citizens from the immoral and barberic elements of the society
3. effects of moral policing -
it clearly leads to mobocrazy,, or it fails the whole aim for wht it meant to be.

indian culture..
a debate on indian culture related to a pub incident itself is shameful..
before goin to indian culture..
wht du u mean by a culture..?
culture is the summation of the lifestyle of the society as a whole..
culture of a society evolves as the times moves on.. do we have the same culture which were in india, during indus valley, during guptas, or during the mughals,..? from time imemmorial the culture of india has evolved in such a way as the lifestyle, mostly because of technology, has been changed.
in other words, culture evolves as the society advances to new hights of standard of living..
so, i feel that the debate of indian culture related to the pub in cident in mangalore is irrelevant. here we have to give importance on the moral policing.. how we can restrict such a sort of incidents in the future..
the young man and women goin to pub or a bar or a disco is not against indian culture.
because, in ancient times itself, or epic stories of mahabarata and ramayana itself or in some of the lifestyles of ancient rajas, we can see that they used "soma" and participated in dances in which a lady will dance in front of nobles.. from this point of view it was a part of indian culture.. but it was limited to nobles.. whether it is good or bad also evokes a debate,, in hindu mythology devas are considered as the proponents of good,, here we can see that devas was fond of soma and conducted dances of 'apsaras'. do we regard this as againt good.. no not at all..

debate never ends.. but it should come out of good for the society for people and for the indian culturue and the evolutiion of civilization as a whole.

thank u..

1/31/2009 9:39:17 PM

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