'Kiss of Love' spreads

Kolkata: After Kochi, the City of Joy witnessed its own 'Kiss of Love' edition by students of two universities to protest moral policing and promote gender sensitisation.

Alleging the 'rise of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism', activists participated in a protest rally in Jadavpur, while in the north, a large number of students of the Presidency University gathered in front of the Indian Coffee House on College Street holding placards as a show of defiance and a mark of solidarity with the movement that started in Kerala.Over 300 activists, comprising present and former students of Jadavpur University and outsiders, marched to Jadavpur Police Station yesterday afternoon where they hugged, kissed and raised slogans like 'Amar shorir amar mon bondho hok raj sashon' (It's my body, my mind, I won't allow moral policing). "Time has come to protest against encroachment on our liberties and freedom of expression. I want freedom to choose whom and where to kiss. It is nobody's business. To kiss is the highest form of protest. So we are protesting against the moral policing. ," a Ph.D student Sayantani, who kissed friend Suchitra, said.