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Episode details

World Service,25 Mar 2010,25 mins

Love and Morals in Mangalore

Assignment

Available for over a year

A self-proclaimed 'moral police force' is patrolling the streets of Mangalore on India’s east coast. There it can be dangerous to hold your boyfriend's hand, drink juice with him at a stall, dance with him at a club or even talk to him on the bus - especially if he's from a different religion. The most powerful vigilantes have links with India's Hindu nationalist right; they track down Muslim men who are seen with Hindu women and accuse them of luring them away in a "Love Jihad." Muslim groups are now retaliating with their own moral police. Tinku Ray reports from Mangalore where the very idea of ‘love’ has become deeply political.

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