In the latest incident of moral policing, a couple who had hugged in public in Kolkata Metro Rail was allegedly beaten up by elderly co-passengers.

The incident happened on Monday evening and one of the commuters, a reporter of a Bengali daily had taken pictures and wrote a first-hand narrative of the incident. "It began as an altercation between the duo and the other passengers who thought their behaviour was inappropriate and after they disembarked at Dum Dum Metro Station in north Kolkata, they were beaten up badly before a group of young people came to their rescue," the journalist wrote. He also said that the girl tried to protect him from the assault by shielding him but even then the rain of blows did not stop.

Metro Rail authorities, however, said that they were not initiating any probe as there was no formal complaint lodged. "We could not find anything in the CCTV footage, or through the security officials present at the station. We also spoke to the journalist who wrote about it, but could not get any video from him or any other clue. We would need at least something to start an investigation," said Indrani Banerjee, CPRO, Metro Rail.

The elderly co-passengers had made several instigating comments such as 'go find a room for yourselves' which sparked the verbal altercation among them and later led to the physical assault.