Hyderabad is always spoken of with much reverence and considered a tourist hub with its cultural spots, a wide range of food, historical monuments and many more.
The capital city of Telangana has always had an air of history to it, although the city is said to be developing, especially in light of the saturation that other big centres like Bengaluru and Mumbai are witnessing.
But in the midst of all this, a topic of moral policing, especially of Muslim women in the city by Muslim men, has risen, according to various reports.
Moral Policing Of Muslim Women?
A recent incident of a 24-year-old Muslim man, moral policing, and publicly harassing an interfaith pair, particularly abusing the woman in Hyderabad, has raised questions about the progress the city is seeing.
The incident that took place on July 29 at the NTR Marg near the Hussain Sagar lake involved an IT professional and his hijab-wearing female colleague stopped by the accused as they were heading home.
The accused, said to be working as a driver at the ride-hailing company Rapido, as per Hyderabad Police, saw the Hindu man and Muslim woman together and started to film them, violating their privacy and then even proceeded to share it on social media.
According to reports, the police claim that he abused and threatened the pair, talking about dire consequences, used communal slurs and even physically assaulted them on the roadside as well, causing the pair to flee in fear.
The accused, however, followed the pair and tried to intimidate them further, recording them on his phone, till they got to Himayat Nagar.
The accused was arrested from CCTV footage acquired from the area, and during interrogation, voluntarily confessed to the crime.
A report by The Print also pointed out the fact that seldom do these women file a police complaint, mostly out of fear of their families’ reactions and that whatever freedom they do have would be restricted further.
One woman was harassed while out with a male colleague, with the harasser asking for her father’s number, with her adding, “I did not know what to do and just went home and cried my heart out.”
The report also talked about how an Instagram page was “targeting young Muslim women, especially those wearing the hijab, simply for being out with friends.”
A 2023 report by Siasat.com also talked about the rising cases of moral policing of Muslim women, where Muslim men assault non-Muslim boys if they are seen hanging out with the former. The report also alleged that some organisations in Hyderabad also ran “awareness programs to ‘enlighten’ the community about the ‘growing inter-faith friendship’.”
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In September 2021, reports came out of a Hindu Dalit man being assaulted and kidnapped by five Muslim men while he was travelling with a Muslim woman.
The incident happened at Telangana’s Nizamabad district while the two people, both colleagues at IIIT Basara, were travelling on a two-wheeler and were stopped by a group of five Muslim men in a car. The men proceeded to assault the victim and then kidnapped him, taking him to a locality nearby, where he was kept for several hours.
In one video clip posted on social media platforms, one of the men can be heard saying to the woman that “kaum ka Naam badnaam ho Raha hai tumhari wajah se (The name of religion is getting discredited because of women like you).”
The pair had incidentally been going to the Nizamabad Government Hospital in Nizamabad town just to collect some documents required for salary reasons at their company.
According to a Times Now report, the victim was released only once the Muslim woman’s brother “explained to the five men that he had sent his sister along with the man to collect the documents.”
Speaking with Times Now, the victim said, “They said it does not matter if you belong to ST community. You are Hindu. How can you travel with a Muslim woman? They brutally assaulted me.”
In May 2023, reports came out of a 19-year-old resident of LB Nagar, S Karthik, getting assaulted by a group of five Muslim men when he went to meet his Muslim girlfriend in the SRT Colony in Yakutpura, Hyderabad.
According to a March 2024 report by The Hindu, four teenagers were also arrested by the Charminar police of Hyderabad after they harassed an interfaith couple and their infant daughter at the Makkah Masjid.
While filming the couple, the youths accused the woman of marrying out of the community, assaulted the man, and, as per the report, even tried to take their child away.
Moral policing in Hyderabad, overall, is another topic that is becoming the topic of conversation in recent times, especially in regards to the actions taken by the Hyderabad police’s Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Teams.
While the core function of SHE Teams is to address eve-teasing, stalking, and other forms of harassment faced by women in public spaces, they have allegedly been venturing into the territory of moral policing.
A 2024 report by South First, a news website for India’s Southern states, raised the issue in lieu of 14 people being fined for allegedly indulging in “indecent behaviour” in public spaces. The SHE Teams officials claimed that the couples among those individuals were harming society’s “decency.”
Officials also reportedly filmed the couples and released their pictures.
SHE Teams Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Prasanna Lakshmi speaking with South First justified these actions by saying, “We had received complaints through WhatsApp from people passing by the metro station that couples were indulging in obscene behaviour. They also mentioned that this behaviour disturbed the public spaces.”
However, senior Supreme Court advocate Colin Gonsalves raised objections on this, asking what exactly is indecent behaviour according to the police. He said, “The Hyderabad City Police’s SHE Teams have not defined what is indecent behaviour in public spaces. Thus, they have no right to encroach upon the privacy of an individual or unmarried couple.”
An X/Twitter user also commenting on this wrote, “Public display of affection (PDA) is not a nuisance or crime. Showing affection should not be criminalised. There are more horrible things that are happening on our streets, like public urination, tobacco spitting, and littering. Several people even roam in an intoxicated state (punishable under IPC Section 290). Do the police dare take action on that?”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Print, The Hindu
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: moral policing, moral policing india, moral policing hyderabad, hyderabad, hyderabad women, hyderabad progress, hyderabad females
Disclaimer: We do not hold any rights or copyright over any of the images used; these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly email us.
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