Karnataka HC Slams Cop For Forcefully Confining Woman Who Wanted To Leave Husband. What’s This Moral Policing?
Isn’t it true that men and women are held to very different standards in our society? A man going around, cheating on his wife is allowed and more so, glorified in pop culture. The wife is nothing more than a boring and nagging version of the man’s mother that he does not want to be with. However, women are forced to adhere to these standards set by men and they do not get autonomy over their own lives. It goes as far as women being shamed for even wanting to have a life. And in many cases, women are physically forced to accept these norms by society members who enjoy moral policing. I was appalled to read this news about the Karnataka High Court fining cops for morally policing a married woman and forcefully confining her and her child.
Karnataka HC has fined the cops responsible for ‘moral policing’ a 22-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter by confining them in a rehabilitation facility for trafficking victims in Belagavi for almost five months. The Dharwad bench of the Karnataka HC has fined both, the police officer and rehabilitation centre ₹1 Lakh.
On May 3, 2021, the woman took her daughter and left her marital home due to domestic issues. Her husband filed a missing person’s report at a police station in Belagavi, Karnataka. Police Inspector Sunil Balasaheb Patil summoned the woman and tried to mediate and resolve matters between the couple. According to The Indian Express, the woman told him that she was in love with a man living in the neighbourhood and wanted to leave her husband to be with him.
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Police Inspector Sunil Balasaheb Patil kept the woman and her daughter in the facility from May 26, 2021, to October 21, 2021. This action which clearly violates basic human rights was taken because of the woman’s desire to leave her husband (yeah… wow!). The Karnataka HC said that by forcing the woman to stay in the facility, they had forcefully cut her contact with the outside world and the neighbour whom she loved.
The Karnataka HC slammed the police for trying to ‘morally police’ the woman and interfering in her marital matters. Just to be clear, if a spouse cheats, the other spouse has the right to go to court against the adultery. However, it is not the police’s place to enforce their own sense of justice and ‘morally police’ anyone, said Justice NS Sanjay Gowda. “The third respondent (the rehab facility) is engaged in the business of housing victims of trafficking. However, the third respondent, in the guise of providing shelter to victims of trafficking, cannot by themselves create a class of victims like the woman held captive at the behest of the police,” he said according to reports.
The Karnataka HC judge also said that while the rehab centre is in the business of housing victims of trafficking, they cannot make their own class of victims as they did with this woman who was unwillingly held captive at their facility at the behest of the police. He said that this is a clear act of imprisoning the body and the mind and then fined the facility and the police office ₹1 lakhs each. The amount is to be deposited in the court registry in 4 weeks and will be invested in the name of the victim’s daughter. The victim is allowed to draw interest from the amount.
To be honest, I feel like Karnataka HC needs to take stricter actions against this. The police are meant to enforce and maintain law, not make their own ones up. Moreover, the freedom of choice other than many other human rights that have been violated by these people. I am just glad to see that the money will be going towards the victim’s daughter and will help her in the future.
