Are zealous police squads scaring away couples along with eve-teasers? Sunday Times does a recce around Meerut colleges

Their eyes meet. In a trembling voice, he asks her name. She whatsapps her number ... This could be the blossoming of a love story. Except, if you happen to live in Uttar Pradesh , a constable in khaki might grab the boy's collar before the conversation is over.Less than a week after the new BJP government announced its anti-Romeo squad initiative, police posses armed with lathis have become a common sight. The scenes around Meerut's colleges, its famous Gandhi park or the empty verdant greens of Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) University are reminiscent of Iran's Gashte Ershad, or "guidance patrol", which enjoys sweeping powers to chastise and even arrest people for failing to meet the "modesty test". This could range from ‘inappropriate clothing' to taking a walk with your boyfriend.The anti-Romeo squads -- a poll promise of the BJP -- have been ostensibly set up to curb cases of eve-teasing and molestation . The frequent police raids over the last three days have shooed off the young boys frequently seen revving up their bikes, checking their reflection in the mirror while waiting for a girlfriend to emerge from a college. The entrance of the all-girls RG (PG) College is deserted. "Aapniwaliyon ke liye aate the. Kuch din se sab band hain (The guys used to come for their girlfriends but the last few days, everything has stopped," says Payal, a BSc student.One hapless youth found outside the college around 1pm on Thursday by the Meerut mahila police contingent is put through a series of questions. He came to pick up his sister, he blurts. After a good look up and down, the boy is let off, and he quickly makes himself scarce.On the face of it, the women appear pleased. "I feel safer with the police around. We had complained earlier about boys on bikes blocking our path, touching us inappropriately as we walked on the street, but no action was taken. Now they have all disappeared," says Sukhwinder Kaur, an MCom student at RG (PG) College said. Kaur is no pushover. Last time a boy bothered her, he received a "tight one" on his cheek, she says.The principal of Ismail National Mahila College, Sadhana Sahay also spoke about the reassurance she and her students felt. "Students have a sense of self-confidence that there is protection for us. Cases of eve-teasing or stalking have come down," she says.Meerut SP (city) Alok Priyadarshi says, "There has been a visible impact among people. Eve-teasers and molesters avoid loitering around and bothering girls."So, have the police in UP been tasked not just with law enforcement but moral enforcement as well? A police officer with the Romeo squad spoke with great pride about the sanitised environment. "Now parents have even stopped sending their young sons to pick up their sisters from schools and colleges. Older siblings or parents are picking up the girls themselves," he says. When asked if the purpose of the drive was to scare away people, he insists that this was for the good of society.But visuals of police collaring a young man in Lucknow for sitting outside a women's clothing shop, or moral lectures being read out to couples sitting in parks or boys being hauled up because of long hair, are hard to ignore. Adesh Pradhan, 23, a student of CCS University, recalls saving a doctor from being arrested a day earlier. "He had just dropped his sister at the exam centre. He was let off by the police only after we insisted that he was part of the family," he says.The guardians of the law have, in fact, missed the issue of consent in their zeal to "protect''. As filmmaker Paromita Vohra, who made a documentary on Meerut's Operation Majnu, points out in a recent column: "Some women may be in consensual amorous situations. Since this is about protecting women, the simplest thing would be to ask the women what they need; to act on their complaints in a timely and efficient manner.'' And yet women's complaints, whether about sexual harassment, molestation, stalking or violence are often met with blaming and shaming the victim herself.Praveen Tiwari, 26 (name changed), protests vociferously. "If my girlfriend and I are sitting in the park or talking, whose business is this? The police campaign should target only those who are breaking the law. We have the freedom to stand where we want, do what we want. What's the police got to do with it?" he questioned.Romance in a mofussil town has its perils. Well-meaning uncles take it upon themselves to "inform" parents; there are few spots where one enjoys anonymity and the burden of preserving culture weighs heavy on the young. Mobile phones have helped cross barriers that conservative societies establish. Most young people hope that the administration's enthusiasm will die a natural death. As Tiwari says, "Can anyone stop two people in love?"