Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed police to deal with those who were illegitimately involved in destroying slaughter houses and harassing boys and girls. This comes after several reports emerged that boys and girls were unnecessarily harassed by anti-romio squad. Reports also said that slaughterhouses were burnt down. Following Chief Minister Adityanath’s orders for the safety of girls in the state, Director General of Police (DGP) Javeed Ahmed on Wednesday launched Anti-Romeo squads to check on eve-teasing in public areas. Ahmed also tweeted saying, “Safety of girls or ladies is the sole intent of the anti-Romeo squads. No moral policing.”
The Adityanath Yogi government’s decision to ban mechanised slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh is at odds with the policy of the Centre, which has granted “industry status” to abattoirs, meat exporters feel as they consider taking recourse to legal means. “The Centre has granted industry status to slaughter houses and the food processing ministry too provides an aid of 50 per cent to encourage them. But, the UP government has ordered ban on all mechanised slaughter houses,” a senior functionary of the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association said.
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43 people have been arrested from various districts of Uttar Pradesh for their alleged role in cattle smuggling, police said today, adding that 27 FIRs have been registered against 60 people for the same. The state police continued its crackdown on illegal slaughter houses and cattle smuggling after strict directives by newly-appointed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
From Gorakhpur to Meerut, ‘anti-Romeo’ squads of policemen on Wednesday fanned out across Uttar Pradesh on the orders of new chief minister Yogi Adityanath, fulfilling a pre-poll pledge of the BJP to check eve-teasing. But the police campaign aimed at ensuring safety of women, especially young girls was reportedly marked by some stray cases of harassment of innocent youths amid concerns that it could spawn moral policing.
Special squads comprising cops from local police stations kept a vigil at markets, malls, schools, colleges, coaching centres, parks and other crowded places to see if women were being harassed. The squad detained five persons in Pilibhit on Wednesday, UP police said in Lucknow. At a few places in the state, some youths were made to do sit-ups at busy crossings holding their ears and taking pledge not to indulge in eve-teasing.
The idea of “anti-Romeo” squads was first implemented in Gujarat in the late 1990s when BJP was in power but the campaign later fizzled out in a short span of time. “Initially such squads were formed in late 1990s but by 2002-03 the campaign fizzled out as such complaints of eve-teasing were less in Gujarat and there were staff problems also,” said officials in Ahmedabad.
(With agency inputs)