Bengaluru: Smooch! Is there a law against kissing too?

Bengaluru: Beware Bengaluru! Too much PDA and you could spend a night at Parapanna Agrahara! And contract chikunguniya! At least that's what happened to two loved up couples last Saturday who were at a pub on M.G. Road and were reportedly all over each other.

The manager of the pub, asked them to leave so that their "obscene" behaviour didn't upset the other patrons. He then set the ball in motion by calling the cops on them. But he insists he cannot be blamed for their arrest or their subsequent detention.

The question of why Cubbon Park police were called to the pub, on M.G.Road has not been adequately addressed. Although one of the arrested youngsters, Shreyas says: “I suspect there is a nexus between the pub management and the police who target vulnerable drunk customers for their advantage to extort money or else file false cases against them.”

The four pub crawling youths including two girls were arrested by the Cubbon Park police last Saturday for obscene behaviour inside a pub and creating a ruckus when they are alleged to have assaulted a police officer who was summoned by the pub management after they were asked to leave the pub.

The arrested are Shreyas Pai, 24, founder and CEO of a startup in the city, Jatin, 22, a law student, and their two female friends, one a 22-year-old software engineer turned salesperson working for a Mumbai based firm and a 23-year-old techie working with a reputed MNC in the city. Both their names have been withheld.

Is there a law against kissing too? Pub crawlers jailed for obscene behaviour
"It was around 11.30 pm when I and my female friend were asked to step out of the pub by the manager. We did not create any ruckus and stepped outside
only to see a cop waiting for us outside on the stairs of the WYT Restropub on MG Road," said Shreyas Pai to Deccan Chronicle, adding, " I had only smooched my girlfriend and we both were not sure why we were asked to get out and why a cop should wait for us outside."

"Things started getting ugly when a head constable attached to the Cubbon Park police station started abusing us, to which I was not paying attention, but my girlfriend was," said Shreyas adding "when she tried to reason with the cop, he pushed her aside and all that I did was stand in between them and push the cop away. And that was the end of any control we had on the issue," Shreyas told DC.

"Immediately then the cop started hitting us with a lathi. He punched us and behind him there were around 15 to 20 people who were auto drivers and random passersby who gathered and it was mob fury including the cop who kept attacking me and my friend Jatin," said Shreyas.

"After the mob fury ended, I and Jatin were taken to Bowring Hospital in a Hoysala jeep by the cops. Two doctors attended to both of us, one of whom stitched my forehead and gave me a tetanus injection. I still have my jeans covered with my own blood. Jatin refused the injection, so his wounds were cleaned up. We learned that the duty doctor at Bowring was writing the medical report according to what the cops dictated. The doctors did not take any blood samples to assess how much alcohol we had drunk or not, and just wrote a report according to what the cops dictated for obvious reasons. They wrote that we were inebriated, and were out of our senses, causing ruckus etc.," said Shreyas.

"In the meantime, the two girls came on their own to the hospital as they were concerned about us. When they came too, they saw that the doctors writing what the cops were dictating to them and the girls were asking sarcastically, as the doctor was donning an 'Art Of Living' cap and how can you do this? The same head constable once again came there, held the girl by her arm and pushed her out of the room," Shreyas recounted.

After the medical procedures and formalities were over, the two youngsters were bundled off  to Cubbon Park police station at around 3.30 am and the two concerned girls followed them to the station.

"The cops could not arrest the two women as it is against the law to arrest women at night. They lied to us and said that we could wait there till the morning when the inspector arrives and all of us would be allowed to go home," said Shreyas.

But in the morning, the police registered an FIR, and arrested all four, produced them before a magistrate who remanded them to judicial custody, Shreyas recounts.

"I suspect there is a nexus between the pub management and the police who target vulnerable drunk customers for their advantage to extort money or else file false cases against them," said Shreyas.

Group behaved badly: Pub
WYT pub manager Nair said, “We have our house policies. If we come across any inappropriate behaviour, it’s our duty to inform the cops and request the erring patrons to leave politely otherwise they wouldn't pay their bills."

"The group was not only indulging in inappropriate behaviour at their table, but our staff noticed the two girls 'cozying up' at the smoking lounge. At that time, we had about 40 to 50 patrons at our bar," he said.

Woman gets chikungunya in jail
The 22-year-old female friend of Shreyas developed chikungunya at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. All the four have been out on bail on Thursday. "We are desperately looking for the CCTV footage that would prove that we were the victims at the hands of the police and pub," said Shreyas.