India, Jan. 19 -- What does it mean to live in the world's largest democracy if consenting adults must still justify their private choices? OYO's new policy requiring "proof of relationship" has turned the simple act of booking a room into a moral interrogation. Is this a glaring symptom of a society shackled by regressive norms? In a country that celebrates love on cinema screens but polices it in reality, OYO's capitulation to so-called "local sensibilities" reflects a troubling endorsement of prejudice disguised as tradition. Whose freedoms are being upheld, and whose are being quietly erased?

In a modern democracy like India, where the rights of consenting adults to engage in relationships are legally recognised, such a move reeks of...