Kerala students sit on each other's laps at bus stop to protest moral policing

The protest took place in Thiruvananthapuram. (Image credit: @rohithkannan/Twitter)

A bus stop bench in Thiruvananthapuram reduced to three separate seats as an alleged moral policing measure to prevent girls and boys from sitting together prompted students from a nearby engineering college to sit on each others laps and post pictures of the same online.

While Thiruvananthapuram city Mayor Arya S Rajendran appreciated the stand taken by the students, residents of the area said they do not approve of the conduct and behaviour of the CET students inside the bus stand during the day and even late at night.

However, the residents denied that the seats were deliberately separated into three to dissuade the students. The bench was converted into three seats as part of renovating the dilapidated structure and keeping in mind COVID-19 guidelines to maintain social distancing, they claimed.

Rajendran visited the area on Thursday after the photographs posted on social media by the students of College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) went viral. After visiting the area, the Mayor, in a Facebook post, said the manner in which the bench was cut into three seats was not only "inappropriate", but also "unbecoming of a progressive society" like that of Kerala.

She said that there was no ban on girls and boys sitting together in our state and those who still believe there should be such a prohibition are still living in ancient times.

"One can only sympathise with those who do not understand that times have changed," she added.

She also told media present there that residents of the area have a different way of thinking as many of them are old timers.

Engineering students from CET, who were present when the mayor visited, told reporters that this was not the first time they were faced with such a situation.

They face moral policing on a regular basis whenever they are walking around in that area with a friend from the opposite sex, they said.

"We have been suffering this for a long time and therefore, we decided it was about time we reacted to it. We, of course, never expected the photographs to go viral. We were just attempting to ensure that such moral policing does not occur in future."

The residents of the area, on the other hand, said that none of them approve of the girls and boys sitting together at the bus stand starting from early morning hours to even late at night.

"This is a bus shelter we built for people to wait for the bus. If they want to sit together, let them do so inside the college campus. We do not approve of their behaviour," some of the local residents told reporters.

They also said that the bus shelter was built by them years ago and was in a bad state, so they decided to renovate it and as part of the renovation process, the seating arrangement was converted to three separate ones with a gap in between in view of the COVID-19 guidelines on social distancing.

"Earlier also three people could sit and even now they can. Moreover, the work was hardly over. A lot of work was yet to be done. However, if the local authorities want to build a modern structure, we welcome it wholeheartedly," the residents added.