But the opposition parties are terming the formation of anti-Romeo squad as Hindutva agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which won the recent elections.
"The UP government is working as per its Hindutva agenda. We will see a lot of these measures in the coming days," Naresh Agrawal, Member of Parliament from the Samajwadi Party, told Sputnik.
Outfits affiliated to the BJP have charged that young men of the Muslim community befriend and attract young Hindu women as part of their efforts to spread Islam by marriage.
"It's not moral policing, it is basically an anti-Romeo squad. The main purpose of the anti-Romeo squad is that wherever there is movement of women and girls it has been seen that boys used to loiter without any purpose. It really affects the confidence of girls. It's my personal opinion that without empowering women, no society can flourish… But the functioning should be so that it will not unnecessarily affect the freedom of youths but if they harass girls, then appropriate action must be taken against those elements," Navneet Sikera, Inspector General of the Women power line 1090 of Uttar Pradesh told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.
"Our main purpose is to reform those youths so that they do not indulge in such activities again. Therefore, their record should be maintained and give them adequate warning to improve behavior and even after the warning, if those boys are harassing girls, then police action will be taken… The move by the government will definitely bring desired results," Sikera said.
