Two police constables drag a youth in his mid-twenties to a barber shop and forcibly tonsure him.
Whilst he initially protests, the police silence him and begin questioning him regarding his presence outside a college campus nearby.
“There were 15 - 20 of you. What were you doing outside the college? Were you trying to click pictures of girls there?” the constable asks the youth.
“No sir, we were only clicking selfies,” he replies.
Within minutes the youth is tonsured.
This bizarre scene played out in Kolar district’s Malur area. On Monday, the Malur police rounded up eight youth, who they claim were loitering around college campuses, and forcefully made them shave off their hair.
The police, however, claim that it was an act of “instilling discipline among the rowdy youth in Malur”.
“There are so many rowdy elements here. These youth don’t go to colleges to study. They are not even enrolled in the colleges. They sit outside the campuses and wait for the girls. Once the girls come out, they begin catcalling, making the girls uncomfortable. Many residents have complained about their activities,” says Malur Circle Inspector Satish, who initiated the drive.
The police decided to force the youths to shave off their hair after a 16-year-old girl was murdered in Malur on August 1.
“The girl was coming back from a sports meet when a 25-year-old youth, who was among those who catcall girls, followed her and tried to rape her. When she resisted, he killed her with an iron rod and fled the spot,” CI Satish says.
The police have arrested Suresh Babu alias Soori for killing the girl and registered a case under section 302 (murder) of the IPC and section 8 of the POCSO Act.
Soon after this incident, the teenager’s parents had reportedly approached CI Satish and informed him about the harassment the girls face from the men who sit outside their colleges.
“The parents were concerned. We rounded up these men who were harassing women and in order to instill discipline among them, we carried out the drive. We did not force them. We just convinced them to give up their rowdy ways and be good citizens,” CI Satish says.