Free expression

The youth wing of the Congress in Maharashtra has registered a case against entertainment channel Colors and production house Endemol for "hurting religious sentiments" in their dance show 'Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena'. [ Link] In an episode of the reality dance show, cricketer Harbhajan Singh dressed up as Lord Ravana and danced with TV actress Mona Singh, who was dressed as Sita. The Mumbai Youth Congress have claimed that this dance has hurt the religious sentiments of the viewers, Deputy...

This is hilarious. Because one doesn't get to hear of this things too often. A group of Bajrang Dal activists, protesting against 'show of indecency' at a Navratri garba festival in Bhopal on October 3 night, were bashed up by the organisers of the programme. The Times of India reported on the incident: [ Link] The Bajrang Dal has now threatened that it would not allow the nine-day dance festivities to continue at this garba venue. The violent incident happened at 10.30pm on Friday, when the...

Backless cholis and low-waits ghagras are out this festive season in Rajkot. The guardian of morality here is Commissioner of Police Sudhir Sinha who has issued an order to all the commercial organisers to ban the entry of participants in ‘obscene and provocative attire.’ Says the Indian Express: [ Link] For the strict implementation of the order, organisers have also been asked by the Commissioner’s office to depute a special security officer to keep an eye on the dress of each and every...

Erotic pictures on covers of condom packs? Eeks, thought the Madras High Court and virtually banned such pictures on condom packets, terming them as "indecent, obscene" and an affront to Indian ethos. But thankfully, the Supreme Court is not retrograde. It has stayed the lower court's order. The Times of India has details on the case:[ Link] The HC order had left Hindustan Latex, the largest manufacturer and marketer of contraceptives and condoms, so worried that it requisitioned the services of...

The police in Nagpur haven't quite done a Meerut, but they have been seen in action. On September 16, they caught 82 young boys and girls, some of them botany students, from the Botanical Garden in Telankedhi area and herded them into the Gittikhadan police station, on suspicion of indulging in indecent behaviour in public. The girls and boys were made to wait for hours for the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Purushottam Gavai, to arrive before being released. The Indian Express reported: [...

The Marriott ghost is still haunting Mallika Sherawat. Sessions judge ST Mahajan on Thursday (September 18) summoned Mallika Sherawat to appear before him on October 7, in a review of an obscenity case filed by Vinod Jain against her and the management of the hotel JW Marriott. From the Daily News & Analysis: [ Link] In his complaint to the Bandra magistrate, Jain had contended that on December 31, 2006, he had viewed on TV, Sherawat's dance at the hotel and had found it extremely obscene. In...

After the Delhi High Court, it is the Supreme Court which has dismissed charges of obscenity against MF Husain. From a report in the Telegraph: [ Link] The apex court threw out an appeal against a May 8 Delhi High Court order that had quashed criminal proceedings against Husain while deploring the “new puritanism” in India. “There are so many such subjects, photographs and publications. Will you file cases against all of them?” Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan wondered. “What about temple...

There have been so many incidents involving MF Husain’s art in recent times that one would have lost count. All, not surprisngly, have come from the Hindu fringe of rightists of our country. When alleged Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists vandalised the Husain expo at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on August 24, they were able to demonstrate only one thing – that going on a rampage is the only form of self-expression that they know of. It subsequently came to light that the attack was...

One is amused and amazed at the fact that the terms ‘moral policing’ and ‘freedom of expression’ are much in the thick and thin of things these days. Is it because there is now an upsurge of conservative militancy? Or, is it because the world has not suddenly become a bad place; but that news travels faster now, and television and the Internet are there to blow things up? Look closely, you will know there is a little of both to it. A decade or so back when Shiv Sena hoodlums plundered the...

What the cops in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh can do, we in Bihar can do better. That seemed to have been the watchword of a bunch of highhanded policemen in capital Patna on June 7. The disturbing details from the Times of India: [ Link] On Friday, sub-inspector Anita Gupta was suspended for harassing couples at the Shahid Peer Ali Khan Children's Park, located in front of the Patna DM's official residence. Senior SP, Patna, R Mallar Vizhi, said: "We have ordered an inquiry. Actually, we had...