01:16Viral video: Girl hugs long line of men outside UP mall on Eid

RAMPUR: A video of an unidentified girl hugging youths outside a shopping mall in Moradabad on the occasion of Eid is being widely shared on social networking sites. The girl hugged almost 50 youths who waited in a queue for their turn. Security officials of the shopping mall told media persons that nobody objected to the girl giving hugs to strangers outside the mall. According to mall management, the girl was with two other girls and they all disappeared afterwards.A huge crowd of youths who were at the mall on Kanth Road to watch a movie were surprised to see the girl, who in the video can be seen in a shirt and skirt, offering hugs outside the mall on Saturday. She can be heard offering hugs as a celebratory gesture on Eid, provided the young men maintained order and stood in a queue. Soon, the line swelled with young men queuing up for hugs. Another girl, who was accompanying the first one, can be seen in the video counting the number of hugs loudly and cheering the visitors to the mall.The sentational and unprecedented Eid Milan hugs went on for more than 10 minutes, while the young woman did not disappoint any of the youths who patiently waited for their turn. Many of the young men could be seen making videos of the incident and clicking selfies with her.A 22-year-old man, who hugged the young woman and wished her for Eid said, “It was a great surprise for all of us. We did not expect a young woman in Moradabad to offer hugs to male strangers on Eid. As far as I know this kind of thing has never happened in the city.”Traditionally, in Muslim society, women and girls are not permitted to hug or make any physical contact with male strangers, regardless of whether it is a festive occasion or not.Santosh Singh, security officer of the mall said, “The identity of the girl is not known as of now. CCTV footage shows she was accompanied by two girls. No one from the crowd complained about the hugs. There was nothing objectionable in what she did. In fact, she can be seen hugging children as well.”Speaking to TOI, SHO of Civil Lines police station, Ajeet Kumar said, “We have ordered the officer in charge of the area to inquire into the matter after watching the video on social networking sites. Management and staff of the mall told us that when they were informed of this event going on, the girls had already left. The management could only try to ascertain the identity of the girls through CCTV footage.”Meanwhile, the mall management has denied that it was responsible for organizing the event.