Face of Nation : The much controversial anti-Romeo squads, spearheaded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, are once again in the limelight.
This time it is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari, who spoke about the emergence of anti-Romeo squads in the national capital.
Anti-Romeo squads were formed soon after saffron-clad Yogi Adityanath came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 in order to check crimes against women.
“Anti-Romeo squad is a very good thing and it is being started in Uttar Pradesh again. It should be welcomed as it is related to women safety. In my opinion, it should be started in Delhi also,” said Manoj Tiwari on Saturday.
However, Delhi’s youngsters seem to be divided on the matter. While most of them believe that measures for ensuring women’s safety in Delhi or any other city are a must, they are not sure about the implementation or the effectiveness of Anti-Romeo squad in the capital.
Commenting on the matter, 24-year-old Raavi Kumar, who is a lawyer, said, “There is a gap between what the Delhi police needs to achieve and what the police is currently achieving in terms of women security. Therefore, there is a striking need to fill this gap and the anti-Romeo squad can fill the gap if it is implemented after taking public opinion into account and with a proper strategy to ensure it does not turn into vigilantism, which would eventually lead to an altogether different consequential problem.”
However, Sneha, a young engineer thinks that it is not possible to implement such an idea in the capital as Delhi is different from Uttar Pradesh or any other state in terms of culture, spirit and freedom, and I don’t think such a squad is required here. Delhi police is doing their job nicely.
Bharat Sharma, studying in North campus, University of Delhi is of the opinion that the idea should not be rejected just because it is coming from a state ruled by a different party.
“We have to see it in the context of Delhi where there is a dire need to take steps towards women security. We can have a different name and a better mechanism so as to ensure smooth implementation of the idea,” said Bharat Sharma.
While Shweta Singh, 23, a Post-graduate student from Faculty of Law thinks there is no harm in giving a try to a modified version of anti-Romeo squad scheme in the capital.
“As we know, Delhi tops the list when it comes to crime against women. According to me, there should be some mechanism to tackle harassment against women and eve teasing. I think a modified version of the anti-Romeo squad is the need of the hour. And as far as the criticism by the AAP government is considered, they shouldn’t reject the proposal at its nascent stage. We should definitely give it a try,” she said.
