Once more, the courts have attempted to take our moral police and our administration out of the Victorian age into more recent times.
The Bombay high court has ruled that viewing pornography in private is neither obscene nor a crime. Without attempting to defend pornography, the court’s observation makes a case for upholding the rights of private individuals. Also, when it comes to pornography, it is an aspect of our life which is unlikely to vanish soon. Attempts to push it underground have not worked and now the Internet has led to the industry’s proliferation. Sometimes it is better to monitor what, to some, is a human weakness effectively rather than react harshly and negatively, to no avail.
The other point is of the police jumping the gun in this case and arresting several customs officers who were watching a pornographic film at a private party. India has rather archaic obscenity laws which help the police harass innocent citizens more than they prevent crime. The court’s ruling is one more wake-up call that we need our laws and our police to be brought out of the dark ages.
Comments