(dpa) - Right-wing Hindu activists Thursday were beating young couples in India's northern Uttar Pradesh during Valentine's Day protests across the country, news reports said.
Police told the IANS news agency that activists from the Hindu hardline Shiv Sena group beat up couples in a public park in Bareilly town and made girls hold their ears and apologize for celebrating Valentine's Day.
Young men were forced to do sit-ups and crawl on the ground.
Shiv Sena said it was holding protests across the country against Valentine's Day celebrations which were against Indian culture and had a "corrupting influence" on Indian youth.
State police chief Vikram Singh said that barring the incident at Bareilly, 250 kilometres south of the state capital Lucknow, no other incidents had been reported in the state.
"We had already made adequate security arrangements in all public places to keep a check on hoodlums creating nuisance on Valentine's Day," he told the IANS.
Protests by Hindu and Muslim groups were reported from the national capital Delhi, central Bhopal and southern Hyderabad cities.
Fifty activists of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing attacked a shop selling Valentine's Day gifts in Hyderabad and set fire to the greeting cards.
They carried saffron flags and chanted slogans such as "Save Culture" and "Death to Valentine's Day."
Muslim groups also campaigned against Valentine's Day and displayed posters at public places asking youth to refrain from celebrating the day.
Meanwhile in central Bhopal city, another Hindu right-wing group the Bajrang Dal held protests threatening to marry off lovers found "misbehaving" in public places.
Other Hindu religious organizations held protests in the western Gujarat state distributing handbills to college students asking them to shun western culture.
Valentine's Day has become popular in India over the past decade with shops selling romantic cards, heart-shaped balloons, cuddly toys and other gifts, while flower sellers are doing brisk business.
But the day has also seen regular protests by Hindu and Muslim hardliners who claim the celebrations threaten Indian culture and social norms.
The protests on Thursday were more muted than usual with the occasion passing off peacefully in cities like Mumbai that have seen highly-charged demonstrations in the past.