Since when did the the Nepal Police become the Moral Police? Or better yet, as one student suggested, what moral authority does the Nepal Police have to lecture and counsel the youth on morality? The Police maintain this is a part of their “social responsibility.”
We thought their social responsibility was to provide security and maintain peace. It seems they have added to their list: arrest and traumatize students, who are NOT a danger to security or society, in any manner or form. Of course, there is the dim-witted logic that these students starting from here (discos), go on to become a bunch of louts. Well, thanks to them the process has only been sped up. Congratulations Nepal Police, you have just been successful in alienating the already isolated and aggravated cluster of Nepali urban youth.
Ganesh KC, the chief of Kathmandu Police told Republica that this action was taken since the “activities at the club were found to have been misguiding the students.” And he further added such straying habits would lead the students to their eventual doom. He agreed it was not a legal action; it was a part of their responsibility. It was meant to be a lesson for juveniles.
Juveniles. In reality, we do not even have a system to take legal action against juveniles. And with that theory, the police have no right to give “lessons to juveniles,” as quipped by another errant student. It’s not in their jurisdiction to take such action as a part of their responsibility. Their responsibility is security. Not spanking wandering teens.
This is the making of a police state, or at least the beginning. A journalist friend was harassed a few months ago because he was hugging his girlfriend, to say goodbye. Now, even hugging in public is a crime. Showing love in public is a crime. Having fun is a crime. Going out for a dance is a crime. And when the Police start regulating the state in the name of “social responsibility”, while their actual duty to provide security goes to shit, we know we are well on our way to becoming a police state. The taxes that us citizens pay are to be spent solely on the maintenance of law and order; so that the police provide security. Not to teach us what is morally right and what is morally wrong.
The idea of morality and culture changes with time. It was perhaps not a moral act to hold hands in the streets of Kathmandu a time ago. But now, it’s more than acceptable to express affection. Does this imply thatwe are morally degraded now? No. It simply means we have evolved.
Morality, in any case, is overrated; especially in a society like Nepal.
Where ministers try and slap each other in cabinet meetings. Where cabinet ministers do not obey the nation’s prime minister. Where corruption runs rife within the police force and the government. In just the last three months, there have been at least five big cases of corruption involving the police. In two cases, police officers have been suspended, including officer Bamdev Gautam who was arrested after taking bribes from a goon. And the same police organization is now lecturing an innocent inquisitive youth on how it’s a criminal act to go out to a disco! Since when was it a crime to go to a disco?
The Nepal Police have got all their priorities whacked. The security situation in the country continues to deteriorate. Just look at the way they dealt with the locals and journalists in Janakpur this past week. A police constable raped a woman of Indian origin. The police charged the locals who demanded justice, seriously injuring several, including journalists.
The police have not been able to do a hoot about the daylight high-profile killings and attempted murders in the capital. They have not been able to nab a single criminal. The local goondas are all roaming free.
And they are busy busting teens on moral grounds.
The question is not whether those students were in the wrong. They may very well have been; skipping school, leaving their parents and teachers in the dark, lying and maybe some boozing (at 8 in the morning, that’s pretty extreme). But hey, it’s a matter to be dealt with between the schools, parents and children. Where in this whole act are we to find criminal activity?
In Kathmandu, there really is not much one can do. There is a lacking of places for our youth to go and have fun; to go on a date even. There is really nothing to do for leisure, except go to a restaurant or watch a limited selection of Bollywood movies at expensive theatres. There is simply no form of entertainment. The jovial millennial have been exposed to the other side of life, but are stuck. There are all these activities that await them, but are somehow out of reach.
Former Home Minister Bamdev Gautam in an interview said of the nightlife of Kathmanduites: “Of course they have nightlife. It’s to go home and sleep under the blanket.” Gautam had resorted to 10 pm curfew to “curb criminal activities.” Maybe if people would sleep all 24 hours of the day, there would be peace. Perhaps the government should try that.
The pub-hopping crowds really do it (whatever they do) out of their fondness to go out and to explore. And it’s not wrong. Sadly for the police, they were not even able to find a single drug. Some students passed out (whether drunk or traumatized is a matter of discussion). What they found were some condoms in their bags. Parents have to see this in a positive light. At least they are being safe about sex. Responsible. Would you rather have a steep increase of teenage pregnancy and abortions? In any case, when did having sex become a crime?
The activities (in whatever form, binging or dancing) of these young adults are just an expression of petty exploration for the pursuit of happiness. Of course, the adults don’t dare question the pursuit of happiness.
The morality issue, sadly, here is not even an issue. When morality attacks faith, belief or social fabric, then it should become an issue. Not when teens go out to dance. The freedom of choosing any form of entertainment wrests with the individual. It is not up to the police to tell anyone how to lead a life, what one should wear and what can or cannot be done for fun. It is a basic freedom that this new republic must offer.
During a banda, if one asks a police officer, why they are letting theese bandawallahs go ahead and shut the city down, they simply reply, “It’s their right.” If it’s their right to do something that infringes on the rights of all Kathmanduites, how the hell is someone going to the disco while not contravening anyone’s space, a crime? How does expressing affection towards someone impinge on other people? If someone enjoys life or love, surely it does not mean they are infringing on the rights of other’s dull, boring life.
Morality does not come with forcing down ideas. It comes with culture. And if you teach your children the culture of evolving, of course they will touch each other’s hands to express their affection to each other. One has the freedom to say or do what one wants. We have the freedom to adopt the cultures and values that we like, or feel comfortable with.
The police are there to enforce only laws, not morals. If there is no law against discos and pubs (and there isn’t one), they cannot not stop teens from attending one.
Family and community constitute a set of societal public assets. It is nourished by recognized morals, respected ideas and common values. However, these values and norms keep changing. And failing to understand this, is failing to understand the power of evolution.
The main reason why thousands of students (especially girls) abroad do not wish to come back home is exactly this. They see their freedom in those countries. And believe me, they are taking their freedom quite responsibly. Here at home, they have society-induced phony values. They are branded immoral merely with one late evening spent away from home. This is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the Kathmandu middle-class who wants all the privileges of globalization, yet tries to maintain the trivial customary fixation of societal norms that is proving to be unacceptable to the new generation. And precisely this selective amnesia of the middle class has accumulated in the strengthening of the power of moral policing, which is the onset of a sad day for free society.
Media represents the values of a conservative middle class and so the Nepali media’s shy objections to the whole event stemmed from their stated political bias.
If policemen are allowed to decide what one can or cannot do within the confines of private life, it is bound to bring a climate of intolerance where freedom of expression is a subject to the whims and prejudices of individuals; in this case, men in uniform. And due to their legitimacy as policemen, they are given solid rights to take any uber righteous action in the name of morality. Such acts by the police, in an operation creates an environment where any other police constable can function as a moral policeman and it sets the tone for the rest of society.
There was an interesting quote by an Indian lawyer about moral policing, “If you take the Pub out of a Republic, all you are left with is a Relic!”
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Nepali Politicians and the Politics of Morality
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