BHUBANESWAR: Odisha police on Friday assured lovebirds in Twin Cities, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, that they can express their affection on the coming Valentine’s Day, February 14, without any fear of moral policing from some right wing organisations.
The police said it has planned to keep vigil on popular hangout places and deploy adequate security arrangements to keep troublemakers at bay on the V-Day. “The police will not tolerate incidents of harassment with anyone on the Valentine’s Day celebrations,” warned Police Commissioner Satyajit Mohanty, adding “police teams would patrol different parts of the city on that day.”
The top cop also said that policemen will provide security to the couples as long as they act and behave sensibly, decently and responsibly as per the law.
Policemen in plain clothes will be deployed at all the hangout places in the city so that no one can create any trouble. Besides, regular patrolling vehicles will frequent parks and colleges to thwart any untoward incidents, an official said.
In Bhubaneswar, young couples come to parks such as Indira Gandhi Park at Unit-I, Biju Pattnaik Park at Unit-VI, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Park at Vani Vihar, Mahatma Gandhi Park at Jayadev Vihar, Buddha park at Niladri Vihar, Madhusudan park at Pokhariput, BDA City Centre at Unit-IV, Regional Plant Research Centre Garden at Nayapalli, Jayadev Vatika at Khandagiri and Nandankanan to spend time together on the Valentine’s Day.
In the recent past, there were incidents of young couples in the city being harassed and threatened by some leaders and activists of saffron outfits and right wing organisations on the Valentine’s Day citing youngsters spoiling Indian culture by adopting Western culture.
