MUMBAI: To protest moral policing by political activists, a mass-kissing event will be held at IIT, Bombay at 5.30pm on Sunday.

At least 70 students and about a dozen faculty members of the premier institute will gather near the convocation hall lawns for the event to express solidarity with youngsters from Kochi who are organizing a similar event in the southern city around the same time.

The youngsters from Kochi are protesting moral policing by youth wing activists of a political party. For this, they will observe ' Kissing Day ' on Sunday.

Udipta Chatterjee, a doctoral student of electrical engineering, said that the act of the right-wing activists denies people the right to love or display love. "Moral policing is regressive… It's not acceptable in today's world. Expression of love in public places is no more a crime in India," said Chatterjee.

The institute's Progressive and Democratic Students' Collective along with Saathi, a support group on campus for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, is organizing the event.

Another student, Rahul Maganti, said the institute's campus too has seen incidents of moral policing. "Ideologically, we're against moral fascism anywhere. So, ours is a symbolic protest against moral policing by reclaiming space for love and sexuality," he said.