Love birds on the run as WC plays moral police

Nearly 200 young couples were driven out of the park with help of police.

Panda said she was prompted to raid the park because of rising cases of unwed mothers and rape on false promise of marriage by youngmen in the capital.

“Most of the victims (of pre-marital pregnancy and rape) had told me that three parks (name not divulged) were being used as dating points in the city by young couples”, she said.

“I was surprised to see many girls in their college uniform sitting hand-in-hand with young boys. I found several pairs taking help of umbrellas to get more intimate in the public place,” said the SCW chairperson.

“I am, in fact, hurt and amazed over the changing attitude of the girls’’ in a conservative society like in Orissa,” she told PTI.

‘One of the girls in college uniform told me that she was sitting with the boy whom she loved and wanted to marry,” Panda said adding her words of caution motivated the girl who promised on the spot not to come to the park with her lover before marriage.

The SCW, however, asked the police not to take any action against the boys and girls. “They were students and in tender ages. Therefore, we wanted to allow them to go free,” said another member of the SCW team.

On her way back to the Commission office, Panda also asked the police to pull down certain roadside hoardings displaying women in ‘bad taste’.

The SCW was of the view that rise in atrocities against women had its roots in attitude of youths.

‘‘The SCW has written a letter to the Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation not to allow hoardings or any publicity materials which are likely to have negative impact on the society,’’ Panda said.

Letters were also issued to different park authorities asking them not to entertain young boys and girls to spend time after skpping classes in colleges and schools, she said.