Cops held for harassing couples
2005-09-02 15:25
Srinagar - Seven members of Indian Kashmir's leading female separatist group, including its chief, have been arrested for allegedly harassing couples cuddling in a restaurant during their drive against immorality, police said on Friday.
Aasiya Andrabi and members of her separatist social group Dukhtaran-e-Milat, or Daughters of Faith, have been raiding restaurants, internet cafés and private houses in a bid to stamp out what they call "immorality and adultery" in the Muslim majority region.
"The restaurant was raided as it was a den of all vices," a Dukhtaran spokesperson said, referring to private cabins in the eatery where unmarried couples have taken to meeting in secret for what she said were "immoral activities".
Taking the law into their own hands
The arrests were made on Thursday evening at an uptown locality in Srinagar, the Indian Kashmir summer capital, a police spokesperson said.
"They were arrested for harassing couples and vandalising a restaurant," the spokesperson said, adding the seven were expected to seek bail.
A witness said Dukhtaran activists turned some tables upside down and broke glass items.
The arrests came a day after police registered a case against Andrabi for allegedly taking the law into her own hands.
"We welcome people's co-operation to end acts of adultery and immorality but we will not allow anyone to take law into their hands," a police officer said.
Separatist groups causes mayhem
He said police had themselves been raiding places to stem the spread of prostitution across the revolt-hit state.
On Wednesday, the Dukhtaran group raided a liquor shop, smashing bottles and warning the owner to close his business. Hardline rebel groups in Kashmir have welcomed the raids, which are conducted by the activists travelling in three-wheel auto-rickshaws and cars and wearing veils in line with strict Islamic tradition.
Andrabi, who served a two-year jail term in the mid-1990s for helping Muslim rebels, supplied a mobile telephone number for people to call "whenever you are convinced a man or woman has entered some place to commit adultery".
Adultery is illegal in the state and carries a potential jail term.
The group had earlier smeared black paint on racy Bollywood film posters portraying scantily clad women.
It has also been campaigning for women to veil themselves fully, including sprinkling colour dyes on women without veils. The drive has been largely unsuccessful in the region which espouses a more liberal form of Islam.