It was unheard of 20 years ago in the state’s coastal districts. Over the last decade, however, Valentine’s Day has curiously become a rallying point.
In 1999, the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) started a campaign against the day, distributed pamphlets and created rumbles for the first time. Police arrested two youth in Mangalore that year for disturbing public peace, and later released them after giving them a warning. Since then, the ABVP, Bajrang Dal, the Hindu Yuva Vedike and other groups have been consistently campaigning against Valentine’s Day.
It was only in 2006, though, that a splinter group of the Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene, made disruption of Valentine’s Day celebrations a mission. Activists barged into the premises of women’s colleges, offering girl students unsolicited advice against observing Valentine’s Day. On complaints from college authorities, three persons were charged with unauthorised entry into private premises and taken into custody by the police in 2006, and later released.
Police records show that 21 cases were filed last year in connection with Valentine’s Day in Mangalore and Udupi. Criminal lawyer Padmaprasad Hegde said, “The police cannot invoke grave charges in such cases. There are no witnesses and no hard evidence. There is little circumstantial evidence to support conviction.”
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