Hyderabad: Police help city have a commotion-free Valentine's Day

Hyderabad: Valentine's Day is celebrated all over the world on February 14, but with the growing extremism of right-wing vigilantes the day has garnered a lot of unwanted attention and lovers fear to walk out in the open or celebrate this day.

However, this year in Hyderabad it was a commotion free day as no incidents of forced marriages of lovers by right-wing vigilantes were reported in the city and there were no attacks on those young couples.

The credit also goes to the police in maintaining law and order. The Special Branch (SB), which is the eyes and ears of the Police department, is on high alert to prevent any kind of untoward incident. Normally, the vigilantes target parks, gardens, malls, colleges and university campuses. The police had increased their vigil at all such vulnerable places.

Ruben, an MBA graduate stated, "Such organisations do not believe in the concept of Valentine's day. My girlfriend and I had an experience of their activism last year, so we decided to avoid their glare and took all the required measures and ensured that we don't end up being their victims."

He further added, "The volunteers of right-wing groups are clearly instructed that if they find any couple dating or meeting and especially if they find any girl from Hindu community dating with a boy from another community, they go berserk and abuse them publicly. As my girlfriend is from another community, I had to face the wrath of such activism last year.". He felt relieved that police vigil had helped them to have peaceful Valentine's day.