Police harass young couple at Besant Nagar beach

CHENNAI: It was a nightmarish experience for a girl who had come to visit the Elliot's Beach on Monday evening. She was humiliated by the cops in front of a crowd that was eagerly waiting for the city police commissioner's arrival to flag off a new all-terrain vehicle gifted to the police to patrol the beach.
The policemen, who were too eager to please the senior officials gathered at the venue and the media, chased away the girl and her boyfriend from the beach and later interrogated' them in full public view and then took the boy in a police vehicle to the police station.
"He is my fiancee and I have told this to the police. He hugged me and police personnel said the media had objected to this. Now they have taken him to the station saying that they will have to conduct some enquiry," the girl, on the verge of tears, told The Times Of India. She said both of them were final year students at a city college.
A large crowd had gathered to see this heroics' of the police personnel and continued following them till the couple was openly interrogated' on the road. People from the shops and nearby lanes came on to the road when police harassed the couple, which was accused of breaking the public code of decency. The girl finally called some friends on the phone and left the scene.
"They will let him go after a warning," police inspector Selvam said.
A shopkeeper who witnessed the police high-handedness fumed, "Such behaviour from the police is not acceptable. We often see young men creating a nuisance on the beach, harassing girls and couples, and the police are mute spectators. It is because of the presence of the media and senior police officials that prompted them to act like this."
Many who gathered at the beach said the new all-terrain vehicle could be misused by the police to harass couples visiting the beach. "There are many people who get into the sea for a swim. We routinely hear of people drowning both in Elliot's beach and at the Marina. Police should be chasing away such people, and not couples who come here to spend some time together," another onlooker said.
Even a section of locals, taking inspiration from the police, play the role of moral police in Chennai's beaches and parks. There are many who allegedly heckle couples coming to the beaches and even try to misbehave with them.
"Policemen themselves set the example and convey the message that they have the right to disturb couples coming to the beaches. The locals see policemen chasing away such couples and they also try to emulate them. Police has now installed cameras at public places that can zoom on to these couples. Though cameras surely a crime deterrent, the risk of their misuse is always there," another member of the public said.
Chennai police has often been accused of chasing away couples from beaches in Marina and Elliot's. They even threaten the girls that their parents would be called up and informed about their "indecent behaviour."