On Saturday, September 13, 2014, my girlfriend and I watched a movie at Oberoi mall, Goregaon in the morning. After the movie, we had our fill at the food court before deciding to leave for home. Since we still had some time, we sat on one of the benches outside the mall, overlooking the busy road. The benches had handles between seats, so we were seated fairly apart. She only had her hand around my waist.

Hence we both were flummoxed when two women and two men (plainclothed) came to us and asked us to come with them. “Where?” we asked. This followed a couple times, before one of the men said “police station” and touched my arm to pull me up. My girlfriend, in an obvious fit of anger (assuming that they were self-appointed guardians from a political party) shouted, especially at one of the women who seemed to be a head of this operation. Only after much squabbling and creating a ruckus, did a khaki-clad policeman come onto the scene and did my girlfriend and I realise that these were policemen.

The policeman started recording my girlfriend, which is when I objected and put my hand forward to make him stop recording. Because of this the main lady officer started threatening us with charging my girlfriend for misconduct against a policeman.

Even then, no identity was shown. After some more squabbling, the main lady officer revealed her card, but it was back in her pocket before I could have a proper look at her name. They said that they were taking us in because we were indulging in Public Display of Affection (PDA). We were taken aback and asked her details about what we did; we only got vague answers in return. I asked for proof; they said that they’d show us the proof at court, but at that moment, we had to go with them. They mentioned that they were sitting in a van for the past ten minutes observing us and that they had seen us indulging in PDA, but when I asked for proof again, they didn’t have anything to show.

We eventually did go with them and landed up at a nearby police station, five minutes away from Oberoi mall. There was one more younger couple caught along with us, whose parents had already reached the police station. We were told that we would have to pay a fine of Rs. 1210. Since I did not have sufficient money, I asked whether I could go to the ATM and withdraw cash; I was refused. I eventually called home and asked my parents whether they could come over with the cash. It was still too inconvenient to ask them and so I asked the police for permission again to go to the ATM. This time I was allowed and I returned soon with the cash.

This may seem like everything at the police station happened in fifteen minutes or so, but we were made to sit and wait, so it was much longer. In the middle, one lady officer said we should go and ask for forgiveness from the main lady officer so that she could reduce or, better, let us go. I didn’t want to. But I was more concerned for my girlfriend and went ahead with it. By this time, I had also started the audio recording on my phone, so that I could have proof of whatever happened ahead.

We went to the main lady officer and told her that if she were a policeman she should have shown her ID first, but she said that she was going to say that she was from the police but my girlfriend interrupted her by talking before that. (Yes, because when someone in plain clothes says, “Come with us”, pulling you by the arm, we’re going to stay all-silent and listen to you.) At this point, another lady officer happened to mention that the CP (I’m assuming that is the abbreviation for the Commissioner of Police) is the one who has sent directives and they were merely carrying out his orders. (I have this recorded.)

We were anyway made to pay a fine of Rs. 1210, and were given a receipt, but a. The receipt does not have the reason on it, and b. When they were writing my girlfriend’s name in a notebook where there were other offenders’ names, they didn’t write the charge for which they were booking us because “baad mein decide karenge”. (Translation: “We will decide later.”)

(Also assuming that they decided to charge only her and not me, it seemed like they charged her for the misconduct issue rather than the PDA one. Why, because they didn’t have any proof? Also then, it strikes me that the policeman started recording my girlfriend when she was shouting so that they had some proof when indicting us.)

I was told by a male officer (who wasn’t present at Oberoi) that nothing would happen ahead, we were only being charged now, and that’s it. We left the premises but nothing about that day has left our heads.

I have a few questions in my mind:

If the CP is against moral policing, (I’ve been informed by journalist friends about this), why is this raid on couples being carried out? Okay, let’s say that it’s allowed on couples engaging in PDA, but when we were just sitting on a bench without doing anything? (Of course, you may believe that I’m lying and we were engaging in PDA, but I guess you only have my word on that here.)

I came home to see if any new rule was passed that police could go ahead and capture couples and the only link I found was this. It’s dated August 26, 2014, a fortnight or so ago, but I didn’t know whether to believe it or not because I’d never heard of the site. Besides no other site has carried anything about this. But let’s say it is true, if I knew that a senior officer at the police station was to determine whether an act is indecent or not, then I wouldn’t have paid so easily.

This has been said before many times, but letting a person, any person, decide what “indecent” is in Section 110 of the Bombay Police Act is stupid.

Mine is surely not an isolated case, it has happened before. A journalist friend told me that it happened with one of her friends when he was inside a car with his girlfriend. My brother tells me it happened to his friend recently when he was with his girlfriend at Malabar Hill a week ago.

One of the main reasons we thought they eventually took us in, was for the money, of course. But we received a receipt, so was it not that? As my girlfriend suggested, how about policemen book people who spit and spread garbage and earn money through that?

I’ve been told to email the CP or the ACP of the Goregaon area. Others have told me to hire a lawyer and go after them. I don’t have the time and strength. And mostly, I don’t have hope.

Then why am I still writing this? I don’t know. Maybe so that I get some peace of mind. My girlfriend and I discussed a lot about putting this online. We eventually decided to at least put this online hoping for some answers and also that some of you may be saved from the horror that we, who should be relying on the police instead of fearing them, went through today.

That evening, while leaving her in the train, I saw another couple hug thrice and also saw him kissing her hand. I almost wanted to go up to them and tell them to stop. That thought came to me in jest, but what if the police who caught us that day were present there and would have taken them in too? Not everyone, including us, works in the press or has contacts everywhere that we could get out of trouble without a scar.

For both of us, Oberoi mall and its surrounding area has been scarred. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to go to that place to watch a movie again without being reminded of today. What would have been a wonderful day was scarred forever. No civilian should be made to feel like a criminal.