We were sitting in the museum compound, and Vishnu had his arm around my shoulders and we were looking at something on my phone. And then two female cops came up and asked us if we were married. When we said we were not, they said that putting hands around your shoulders was against the law. It was then that Vishnu started the Facebook Live. We asked them according to which rule are we breaking the law? And they had no answer. Then they asked us to get up and walk away, and when we refused they said that we had to go with them to a police station.





People here do get upset about displaying affection in public. They think that hugging, putting an arm around a shoulder is obscene. So the police approach to ask you to stop on behalf of other people, saying that it is inappropriate behaviour. It happens to us and my friends quite regularly. If you are married then it is not an issue. People have an archaic view of morality here.



The police were not able to cite a law that we were breaking. They said afterwards that we were causing a public nuisance. But the whole time we weren’t worried. We were aware that we hadn’t done anything wrong.



When we were at the police station they asked to call our parents. Our parents are really unhappy about it.

The apology statement posted by Kerala's State Police Chief. The apology statement posted by Kerala's State Police Chief.

Arathy explained what happened:Vishnu explained that parental punishments for young couples rebuked by the police can be severe, with the woman often taken out of her studies and forced to have an arranged marriage. However, the punishment would not be as harsh for the man in the situation because men are more “privileged” in Indian society.Arathy and Vishnu were permitted to leave the police station, but refused to do so, staying in order to speak with the police commissioner and some media. They were required to pay a fine of Rs. 200 [2.83 euros]. The incident received a lot of traction on social media, with Vishnu’s original Facebook Live racking up nearly 200,000 views and over 1,200 comments.Kerala’s state police chief issued a statement on Facebook in response to the furore, saying, “No one has the right to disturb or harass any couple anywhere more so in public places. In our country we impose self-restrain [sic] on Public Display of Affection (PDA) due to our culture and tradition, though there is no legal ban for PDA.”Arathy and Vishnu received a lot of support for standing up to police questioning. They are hopeful that societal views on morality are gradually changing.