In Mangalore last weekend, a dozen or more goons stormed into a pub and attacked young women for being 'improperly dressed' and 'behaving immodestly.'

The incident made headlines; much outrage was expressed -- and we seem to have moved on to other preoccupations, other headlines.

What happened was unconscionable: No individual or group has the right to set itself up as arbiter of public behaviour. Even less does it have the right to take the law into its own hands, to enforce its unilateral diktat through acts of deliberate violence.

The fault, though, is not theirs but ours: Too often, for far too long, we have confined our disgust, our anger at such actions to the confines of our living rooms. 'Incidents' happen, we 'express our outrage' within the safe confines of our home.

Then, with a collective shrug of apathy, we move on -- and by moving on, we grant such groups the tacit permission to continue on their anarchist path.

The danger in collective apathy is this: We could be next.

Tomorrow, this group could decide that you do not have the right to play the kind of music they disapprove of; to educate your children in schools not of their liking; to allow your wife, your daughter, to work at jobs of their choosing.

These groups get away with their acts because they purport to speak for the 'majority' -- and they do this because we, the majority, are silent spectators.

That needs to change. Now.

We need to show that we, the silent majority in this country, do not support such acts -- that we, in fact, strongly oppose such groups; that we refuse to cede to such self-appointed moral guardians the right to speak for us, to dictate our actions, to define 'acceptable behaviour.'

It is time for the 'silent majority' to find its voice, to speak out, to put an end to criminal behaviour before we get swamped in this rising tide of 'moral' posturing.

Speak out, through the form below.

Express your views, give voice to your outrage, demand that elected governments enforce the laws of the land and crack down, hard, on those who would take that law into their own hands.

We will forward your thoughts to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, and follow up with his office to make sure your thoughts are heard, and action is taken.

Read views: 'Let's not Talibanise India'

PS: *Your e-mail will remain confidential and not be disclosed.