Kiss Day in Kerala Kiss Day in Kerala

To assert their right to love following an attack at a coffee shop in Kerala's Kozhikode district last week by the BJP activists, a group of youngsters in Kochi have decided to observe the next Sunday as 'Kiss Day'.

Though the police have denied permission to hold the event, the campaign against moral policing has put the police and the district administration in a bind.

The organisers of Kiss Day have invited couples to assemble at the city's Marine Drive on Sunday evening to protest the attack as well as express their right to love openly.

"Lovers will kiss each other. We want to send a strong signal to moral police that violence can't overcome love," one of the organisers, S Rahul, said.

"Criminalization of affection and love is really bad. The attack against the coffee shop was just a trigger. Sadly this tendency is growing everywhere," Rahul said.

The organisers have also put up a Facebook page called Kiss of Love, which has already garnered over 16,000 likes. They also plan to take the campaign to other cities in protest against intolerance and moral policing.

A number of LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) have also lent their support to the campaign. Organisers expect that at least 10,000 couples would turn up for the Kiss Day event in Kochi.

"We can't prevent people from assembling. But if it creates a law and order problem and traffic snarls, we will arrest and remove them from the spot," Kochi's Deputy Commissioner Nishanthini said.