COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police have
rounded up hundreds of young lovers for kissing in public following complaints
that the overt displays of affection caused embarrassment to others, an official
said Thursday.
Nearly 200 couples have been briefly detained in the
districts of Matara and Kurunegala over the past two weeks, police spokesman
Prashantha Jayakody said.
"We have taken them into custody for
indecent behaviour at a public place," Jayakody said. "Usually we free them
after informing their parents. Charges are not pressed."
A resident
in the town of Matara, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Colombo, said young
couples were sometimes acting intimately on the beach as many could not afford
the privacy of hotels.
Sri Lankan police are also known to
occasionally round up so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in
scorching sun along the coastal promenade in the capital.
source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Sri-Lanka-arrests-kissing-couples-/articleshow/6031292.cms