Bengaluru, September 6, 2020: A few days ago, actress Samyuktha Hegde took to social media about an unpleasant encounter she and her friends had at a public park in HSR Layout. According to Samyuktha, an elderly lady abused and assaulted them when they were practising the hula hoop, without any provocation.
The skirmish took a moral policing undertone, considering Samyuktha’s attire at the time, and her attacker’s choice of words. And while cops diffused the situation then, not one to take things lying down, Samyuktha filed an FIR the following day.
I have always opposed Moral Policing. I realize that my actions were construed as such. An argument ended up in me reacting aggressively as well, it was a mistake. As a responsible citizen n progressive woman, I own up to n sincerely apologise to @SamyukthaHegde n her Friends! pic.twitter.com/pM9UJkWESC
— Kavitha Reddy (KR) Jai Bhim! (@KavithaReddy16) September 6, 2020
As it turns out, the elderly lady in question was social activist Kavitha Reddy, who then took to social media to apologize to Samyuktha and her friends.
Stating that the incident has been blown out of proportion, Kavitha says that “Even though I did not physically assault Samyuktha’s friend, which is evident in the video, I still owe an unconditional apology for losing my temper, irrespective of whatever maybe the provocation. Moral policing is something I have always opposed and it is unthinkable that I would make such regressive comments. With public around there was a lot of arguments, heated exchanges and out of context video recordings. The ugly incident should not have happened, nor should it have been made political or seen as moral policing. As a responsible citizen and progressive woman, I am issuing an unconditional apology.”