Kerala’s Police Commissioner Lokanath Behera on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into a case where a couple in the state went live on Facebook to expose police personnel accosting them over their “vulgar behaviour”. On Facebook, Behara said there was no ban on public display of affection and that no one had the “right to harass couples”.

Stressing that the police department was a law enforcement agency and not a moral keeper of society, Behara said, “I am pained to learn that some police personnel reportedly misbehaved with a couple in Thiruvananthapuram. I wish this had not happened.”

On Tuesday, a couple sitting in a garden were allegedly accosted by two police officers, who, on realising they were unmarried, told them that this behaviour was vulgar. The couple recorded their interaction with the police officials on Facebook live. They asked the police officers what was vulgar about their actions, PTI reported. While the couple said no answer was given, one of the officers can be heard saying in the video: “We’ll inform your parents and see what needs to be done, whether to marry you off or not. Otherwise, all this is not permitted here.”

The couple was taken to a police station and a case under IPC section 290 (for creating public nuisance) was registered against them, PTI reported. They were eventually released.

The incident follows Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directive to the state director general of police, asking him to take strict action against moral policing. “Nobody has been given the right to manhandle and assault the public in any circumstance,” the chief minister had written in a Facebook post.