Nobody can take law in hand, Bhardwaj warns pub attackers

Law minister H R Bhardwaj has hit out at recent moral policing by saffron elements in Mangalore and said there was nothing like pub culture in India.     

"Police is government police...nobody can take the law into his own hand. What these saffron people are doing is wrong and this will cause them lot of damage in politics," he said.
    
"We are an open society and anything done retrograde to harm any religion or any way of law shall not be permitted," the minister said, adding "this country belongs to all. Who can do moral policing in this country?"
    
"Our culture is tolerant, it is non-violent and simple ancient culture," he said on Monday at the sidelines of a conference here.
    
"Changes are coming in the society very fast, especially due to globalisation. The younger generation wants more freedom, relaxation of rules, and some parents allow it and some do not. It is the acceptability of the society that matters," Bhardwaj said.
    
"When you go into a restaurant, you have some coffee or tea. Some people have beer. What is wrong about. We cannot say Indian culture has changed," the law minister said.
    
Bhardwaj's remarks come in the backdrop of the January 24 incident in Mangalore in which activists of Srirama Sene had barged into a Mangalore pub on Balmatta road on Saturday last and assaulted women and men, which evoked nationwide outrage.
     
Sene president Pramod Muthalik and 27 other persons were arrested in connection with the attack.