Bangalore:
Caught romancing in a public place? Brace for the humiliation of facing your furious parents at the police station.
For, the cops have decided to summon the lovers' parents and hand over the youngsters to them, in a departure from an earlier practice of detaining the couples and forcing them to tie the nuptial knot at police stations.
Of late, the incidents of couples getting cozy in public places have seen a sudden surge in the city. According to the police, the move is being taken to avoid complications such as suicide, elopement, kidnapping and blackmailing of one partner by the other after break up.
The police department, which is yet to solve several cases of elopement, has decided to let the lovebirds off with warning, but not before summoning their parents and exposing the couple before their guardians.
An Indiranagar resident, who noticed during his evening walk that couples get touchy- feely at Cubbon Park, sent a petition to the home department last month to put a curb on the 'disturbing' trend.
Acting on the petition and observing an increase in the number in such cases, the police department finally issued circulars to all the police stations asking them to summon parents of couples if the lovebirds are caught romancing in public.
T Suneel Kumar, additional police commissioner (law and order), said, "Earlier, we had to face the wrath of parents of lovebirds whom the police would get to tie the knot at the police station.
Now, much like a school principal, who summons students' parents if the kids are caught for some wrongdoing in the school, we plan to summon the parents of the youths and inform them about their misadventure and their affair."
In case, the couple or their parents are not residents of Bangalore, their photos and residential address will be maintained for record by the cops. "We have noticed a steep increase in such cases.
While a few couples eloped and a few ended up committing suicide, some ended up at abortion clinics. There have also been instances of former lovers blackmailing each other.
If not nipped in the bud, these love stories would turn into tragic tales and create serious law and order problems in the city," Suneel Kumar said, justifying the move.
Suicide threatThe commissioner of police has directed all police stations to keep a vigil at all possible locations where the couples meet.
He also instructed his officers to remain in constant touch with residents' welfare associations in their jurisdiction, so that they could get first-hand information on any eventualities, including suicide attempts, in those areas.
"Today, children threaten to kill themselves if parents come in the way of their love affair. We have seen several suicide attempt cases in the past," said Jyothi Prakash Mirji, commissioner of police.
Lovers' hotspotsOld Airport Car Parking 15 cases per month
Lalbagh Botanical Garden 40 cases per month
Cubbon Park 30 cases per month
Sadashiv Nagar Central Park 26 cases per month
Residency Road 30 cases per month
Koramangala Main Road 40 cases per month