The recent incidents of Mumbai cops busting parties in hotels and homes alike have generated quite the protest. To all those who have taken up arms against the busting of many a house party in the city recently, I respect your dedication and commitment towards keeping Mumbai a suitable late night party destination. I really do. I'll even concur with the fact that the city's police should really be focusing on matters that are much more pressing than parties. Granted, busting rapes is more important than busting raves. However, where I lose the point of the argument is people losing their tempers over the cops using the word 'rave' to describe what the youth would describe as a relatively boring party. With all due respect, most of us do not know the difference between a charge sheet and a show cause notice or a subpoena. If we cannot trust ourselves to use proper Police terms while describing a scenario, why should we expect the police to use 'happening' lingo appropriately?
Where the issue truly lies, however, is the increasing feeling that our freedom in the city is being curbed, especially post 11 pm. The legal drinking age being increased to 25 caused enough uproar when it was announced last year, but the new requirement of a 'drinking permit' has been met with ridicule. Much of this ridicule turned to anger, however, when the police followed their orders to the letter, busting quite a few people who did not possess this permit. As a person who has always believed that the drinking age limit is ridiculous, I will not speak on this matter. Most people who enjoy clubbing and house partying are barely 21 (the previous limit) and hence any attempts to meet a middle ground on the drinking limit has failed. I sincerely doubt that many of my friends who turned 21 sheer weeks after the age limit was raised to 25 would even agree to set the limit at 22.
There has been no satisfying justification to the entire scenario at all. We do not know if this is the Mumbai Police's attempt to curb late night crimes by imposing a curfew. It is definitely too early to tell if this attempt has worked. All we see is an attempt to make more money - through these permits and through fines being paid by the people who do not possess these permits. Has the youth really become a soft target for the cops to fill their pockets? Because it sure as hell seems more likely than the cops 'protecting' us by parenting us rather than policing us. Can we have an official statement, please, to clear the confusion and allow any semblance of debate? Honestly, Mumbai Police, even the pretence of democracy will be better received than this outright oppression. Or have you not been noticing how democracy in our country has lasted this long? Something to think about.
Where the issue truly lies, however, is the increasing feeling that our freedom in the city is being curbed, especially post 11 pm. The legal drinking age being increased to 25 caused enough uproar when it was announced last year, but the new requirement of a 'drinking permit' has been met with ridicule. Much of this ridicule turned to anger, however, when the police followed their orders to the letter, busting quite a few people who did not possess this permit. As a person who has always believed that the drinking age limit is ridiculous, I will not speak on this matter. Most people who enjoy clubbing and house partying are barely 21 (the previous limit) and hence any attempts to meet a middle ground on the drinking limit has failed. I sincerely doubt that many of my friends who turned 21 sheer weeks after the age limit was raised to 25 would even agree to set the limit at 22.
There has been no satisfying justification to the entire scenario at all. We do not know if this is the Mumbai Police's attempt to curb late night crimes by imposing a curfew. It is definitely too early to tell if this attempt has worked. All we see is an attempt to make more money - through these permits and through fines being paid by the people who do not possess these permits. Has the youth really become a soft target for the cops to fill their pockets? Because it sure as hell seems more likely than the cops 'protecting' us by parenting us rather than policing us. Can we have an official statement, please, to clear the confusion and allow any semblance of debate? Honestly, Mumbai Police, even the pretence of democracy will be better received than this outright oppression. Or have you not been noticing how democracy in our country has lasted this long? Something to think about.
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