Free expression

The Orissa State Women's Commission has taken upon itself the onerous job of playing the moral police in state capital Bhubaneswar. On Friday, they took help from the real police and hounded out 200 young couples from a popular dating haunt, the Science Park. The Indian Express had this to report: [ Link] (SCW chairperson Namita) Panda said she was prompted to raid the park because of rising cases of unwed mothers and rape on false promise of marriage by youngmen in the capital. “Most of the...

You can't beat this — the Andhra Pradesh government has banned dancing in clubs, bars and pubs to prevent law and order problems. Orchestra and singing accompanied by eating and drinking, however, has been permitted at these places if the managements obtained amusement licences. How amusing. We have been told as much by none other than the home minister of the state, K Jana Reddy. No, he did not convey this to us personally. He chose to announce this in the state Assembly during question hour on...

The Rajasthan police has quietly transferred the Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kissing-in-public case to its Delhi counterparts. The Indian Express has all the details of the case on which there is a Supreme Court stay order: [ Link] The Delhi Police had not registered any FIR after examining the complaints against Gere’s action — he planted kisses on Shetty’s cheek during an AIDS awareness programme at Samaipur Badli on April 15, 2007. On a lawyer’s complaint, the Rajasthan Police had registered a...

Valentine's Day comes every year with its share of spoils. I mean, the spoilsports. This year couldn't have been any different. More so, since the zealots have not died away. Just a quick rundown of some news reports: The New Indian Express: ROURKELA: Planning a date on Valentine Day. Here is a warning for unmarried young couples. The moral police in the saffron brigade will be on a prowl at vulnerable dating points to swoop down on lovebirds engaged in intimacy! This year too the VHP and its...

A year has rolled on, but Mallika Sherawat's "obscene" performance case of the last New Year's Eve still rolls on as well. A Mumbai court has directed three witnesses to record statement in the case. Metropolitan Magistrate G Wankhade at Bandra court has examined the evidence presented by the complainant Vinod Jain, a so-called social worker. [ Link] Wankhade has issued summons to Praveen Gala, Avinash Jain and Halim Qureshi, three witnesses in the case to appear before the court and record the...

The government of Kerala is very considerate. It has considered following the footsteps of teh authorities of the Guruvayoor temple. It hs condescended to allow women teachers in the state to wear churidars. How thoughtful. The New Indian Express has some backgrounder to this: [ Link] It is learnt that the intervention of Education Minister M A Baby also fuelled the idea. The order pointed out that since male teachers are allowed to wear shirts and pants female teachers should be allowed to wear...

MF Husain remains in the news. The Supreme Court has now transferred a criminal case pending against him for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with his controversial paintings from a court in Maharashtra to Delhi. The details are from a Press Trust of India (PTI) story in the Hindu: [ Link] A bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan Monday directed that the criminal case against Hussain will now be shifted from a court in Pandharpur to the Patiala House Courts where two...

Quite a bunch of Rajputs are irked with Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodhaa- Akbar. They have raised objections on Jodhaa Bai's origin, as Gowarikar believes. According to Rajputs, Jodhaa Bai was the daughter-in-law of Akbar, and not his wife, as shown in the film. There has been some violence. Says CNN-IBN: "Opposing Ashutosh Gowarikar's movie, hundreds of youths belonging to the Rajput community staged a protest demonstration and shouted slogans against the film producer. They also burnt promotional...

The Tamil Nadu House is seeing some heated discussions—not over water, but actress Shriya Saran's wardrobe. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), for instance, thinks she reveals too much. From the New Indian Express: [ Link] It all started with PMK whip T Velmurugan calling for censorship on the small screen arguing that Namitha turned up in revealing attires as the judge of a dance show telecast on a private satellite television channel. Likewise, Shreya, the heroine of the runaway hit Sivaji - The...

The Indian Express has a list of some recent incidents: [ Link] May 6, 2007: Twenty-seven activists of the little known ‘Karnataka Yuva Vedike’ attacked Athena Pub at Leela Palace Hotel on Airport Road in Bangalore. The activists had asked all the customers at the pub to vacate, and had gone on rampage. August 10, 2008: The activists of ‘Karnataka Rakshana Vedike’ attacked a group of 35 people, who were holding a Rave party at Manchanabele Dam in Maradi Taluk. The police had later arrested all...