Blogs

Issuing summonses to the sitting duck actors and actresses of our film industry for on-screen demeanours is one thing; issuing an arrest warrant for a public act which did not really offend too many sensibilities is another. Shortly after he issued that arrest warrant against Richard Gere, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Gupta of Jaipur was criticised by legal luminaries for pandering to frivolous complaints and making India the laughing stock of the legal world. Gupta has now been...

Mayday. Mayday. Our item girl and Bollywood non-actress Rakhi Sawant is bound to land up in trouble for all that she says and does (once in a while, also what is done to her) — this time she is in a mess for appearing on TV in a bath tub against the background of a statue of Lord Buddha! A case has been registered at Frezarpura police station in Amaravati district of Maharashtra under section 295 of IPC (injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class). In...

We don't need to poke fun at the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. He is well-nigh capable of doing it himself. The minister came up with ridiculous answers to the posers from Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate. You wouldn't know whether to laugh or to cry. In case you missed it, here are the highlights: Karan Thapar: Minister, you are missing the point. I don’t deny that you have the power to ban, you do. But I’m asking you, how you interpret the words...

The smaller courts in India are on a roll. Aaah, I know the metaphor doesn't really carry through. But then, what also does not is what these courts are doing by reacting to flippant complaints by a demented section of the public. A local court in Muzaffarnagar has issued summons to Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan to appear before it on May 30 in connection with a kissing scene in Dhoom-2. District Judge HK Shrivastava ordered issuing of summonses to the duo after taking cognisance of a...

We have been waiting with bated breathed for an arrest warrant to be issued against Richard Gere for his indecent and obscene act. For insulting our collective Indian sensibilities. It is a differennt thing that our sensibilities have little to do with, say, suicides by farmers in Vidarbha. Anyway, there is this magistrate in Jaipur who has done the honours. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Gupta has reacted to the compliant filed by one Poonam Chand Bhandari after watching the...

The Times of India, a few days back, carried a brifer on the who's who of the moral police in India (Serial Offenders On Morality Frontline; April 19, 2007). It is worth carrying it here: Shiv Sena: The biggest moral police. It’s most famous cop Pramod Navalkar has run campaigns against prostitution, 'vulgar' hoardings, pictures in compromising positions. Sena has been at the forefront of 'anti-Indian culture' Valentine's Day. But had organised the Michael Jackson show. Sambhaji Bridage: Founded...

A minister in Madhya Pradesh is in trouble over some dirty dancing. No, it was not he who did all this dancing. It was some "erotic" dance at a government-sponsored mass wedding of 101 poor girls in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, that has people gunning for him. The man behind this function was state minister for cooperatives, Gopal Bhargava. He had on April 20 invited thousands of people to the gathering, with promises of great celebrations. Here's in brief from what the Times of India reported: [ Link...

The Sindhi community in Bhopal is nuts. Let's make that politically and legally correct — a section of the community is nuts for sure. A Sindhi girl there by the name of Priyanka Wadhwani fell in love with a Muslim youth called Umar. Since the girl's family was against the match, the two eloped and married. The guardians of Hindu morality (read, RSS and Bajrang Dal) promptly stepped in and said the Muslim man had abducted the girl. A case was filed in due course. The Bombay High Court intervened...

Now that we all know Richard Gere's kissing of Shilpa Shetty has fanatics of many hues up in arms, literally and otherwise, it might be worthwhile to jot down who these guardian angels are: A social activist based in East Delhi, Subodh Jain has sought action against Gere for the "obscene act" and Shetty for "encouraging obscenity." The complaint was filed at Manasarovar police station, but no case was registered as the Northeast Delhi police said it did not have the territorial jurisdiction to...

Rakesh Shukla, a Supreme Court advocate, has interesting comments to make about morality plays [ Link] It would be no exaggeration to say that 90 per cent of the programmes would fall within the ambit of Section 19 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, which empowers an authorised officer of the rank of sub-divisional magistrate to prohibit any programme or channel not in conformity with the programme code. In addition, Section 16 provides that individuals and companies can be...