This Coimbatore Park Is So ‘Sanskari’ That You Need A Marriage Certificate To Enter

The debate about the current Indian society and how far we’ve come from the ‘regressive’ practices is a never-ending subject of discussion. Under the pretext of staying true to our roots, or ‘preserving Indian culture’, we are still engaging in silly practices that make absolutely no sense.

Remember the time when the police helped a Varanasi couple get married because the locals had a problem with the lovers meeting each other? Well, at least that ended well for the couple.

However, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore has now asked its Botanical Garden’s security to stop unmarried couples from entering the park. Moreover, public entry for recreation is restricted, only married couples with children will be allowed inside.

As per a report by TNN, the decision was taken by the university after receiving complaints from locals as well as students about couples using the garden as their hiding and recreational spot.  M Kannan, the professor and head of the floriculture department at the TNAU said,

The decision has become controversial instantly and has received backlash for it. A student studying IAS said,

“Restricting entry into a public place is completely illegal, the security guard told me that even if I was married I would not be allowed inside. Only couples with children were allowed. This is ridiculous. I had once gone with a male friend at 8 am on a Saturday morning. We both wanted to ideate for our new venture. But again, we were turned away. Even though I was with a male partner.”

This is not all. According to India Today, this isn’t the first time the university has taken some action. Turns out that there is a registry at the entrance where the visitors are required to enter their name and personal details like phone number, age, residential address etc. There are also boards in the park asking the visitors to ‘maintain the dignity’ of the park.

While that might be acceptable on some level, asking for marriage certificates and restricting public entry is downright wrong. As Indians, we cannot talk about being a progressive and modern society until and unless we change our mindsets, shift away from the orthodox thinking and accept people’s freedom of speech and choice.

Moreover, I fail to understand how an educational institution can impose such rules despite being a medium to teach people about modern day society.

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