Opinion Obscene for you,okay for us

The antiquated law on what constitutes obscene is in need of adjustment to changing cultural standards and what is now available via internet and foreign channels in post-liberalised India. In recent years,the court has taken a slightly more progressive stance on the question of obscenity,especially in the judgment about M.F. Husain’s painting Bharat Mata that seeks to apply contemporary community standards and pass judgment without a closed mind. The state,however,still maintains an iron grip over what is available for public viewing. Restrictions are applied via customs regulations like in the case of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses,bans for disturbing religious sentiments or under a general provision for disturbing morality and public order. The state also determines the allocation of spectrum,the building of technological infrastructure and has control over mechanisms of speech and the ability to shut them down.

There are few public networks of circulation that allow for an escape from the stranglehold of state. For instance,there is circulation of amateur video porn,though this does not co-relate to its Western counterpart of industry-produced pornography that is far more explicit and graphic. Amateur video porn in India is often a tiny glimpse into the sexual lives of people like ourselves and has a limited circulation. Perhaps the more pressing legal and ethical quandary raised by some amateur porn is the violation of privacy of individuals and leaking of their images,whether it is a woman who is unaware that she is being taped by her lover,or boys in a hostel who don’t know that their bathing is being recorded and uploaded on the internet.

The terms of the debate,however,cannot be about pornography,and the act of legislators watching a pornographic clip of extreme violence in the assembly cannot be brushed aside by the resignation of the individuals involved. What is appalling here is the hypocrisy of the BJP governments that would like to forget that it was their legislators who were caught watching porn,while they continue to speak about declining moral standards. The moral policing by the right wing on sexuality,culture and religion has increased to an alarming extent. In Karnataka,women have been assaulted for their attire,inter-religious couples targeted and churches attacked in the last two years.

Legislators were casually rifling through obscene pictures in their tablet or mobile phone while matters of public interest were discussed in the House. The ordinary employee of an IT company,a teacher or student in a university or anyone in a regular office cannot access generic content on YouTube or friends on Facebook,because of strictures on the network in workplaces. Should a legislator be able to watch porn in the assembly,when I have to negotiate the ban on a relatively benign sexual comic like Savita Bhabhi,or am not allowed to watch an exceptional and artistic film like Gandu (2010) in a cinema hall? In this context,it is not an amusing irony but indeed something that should make us very angry,as the officials of the state are doing exactly what has been disallowed and denied to us.

The larger paradox here is,whatever turn public debate takes now,the anti-pornography position will still be upheld by the BJP,even though they were the ones repeatedly caught with porn in their hands,while the pro-pornography position would be safeguarded by those who are liberal and anti-censorship. The terms of the debate remain unchanged,except those who are saying that pornography should not be censored may now realise that we are indeed speaking up for the rights of legislators to watch porn while they determine the extent of our freedoms.

The writer is with Bangalore-based Alternative Law Forum
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