Govt to crack down on obscene posters - Times of India

BANGALORE: The Congress government has decided to come down heavily on posters and publicity material depicting women in poor light. The crackdown covers circulation and publication of books and pamphlets.

Though the intent is good, the move has attracted the ire of a section of the society as it fears the measure could be used as a weapon of moral policing. The government has resurrected a longforgotten law passed 27 years ago to purge the public places of obscene posters.

Perhaps, the little-known law — the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition ) Act of 1986 — has not been invoked even once in the state, law and parliamentary affairs minister T B Jayachandra admitted to TOI. He called for complete and strict enforcement of the law.

In the next couple of days, the minister said, he would be sending letters to the home minister, chief secretary, additional chief secretary (home) and the DG&IG to ensure that the law is implemented and the guilty are punished.

Harsh punishment in store for violators

According to the Act, those who portray women in bad light "are likely to corrupt or injure the public morality or morals" . This may attract a maximum of five-year jail term and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Section 3 of the Act says: "No person shall publish or arrange or take part in publication or exhibition any advertisement which contains indecent representation of women in any form."

Section 4 is harsher. It bars a person from producing, selling, hiring, distributing, circulating or sending by post any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure which contains indecent representation of the women in any form. If enforced, movies and publications will be the worst affected.

The proposal to enforce the law has evoked mixed response. While women's organization Vimochana expressed concern that the law has the potential to be misused as a weapon of moral policing, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce welcomed it, saying ugly depiction of women in film posters would come down.

Section 5 says:

The gazetted officer authorized by the government can seize any advertisement or any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure which he has reason to believe contravenes any of the provisions of this Act.

Times View

That our government has suddenly woken up to film posters and advertisements with scantily clad women, and is stridently evoking a 1986 law, may appear reassuring in its mission to protect women. It's true that some crafty movie-makers paste titillating posters and bills to draw a certain section of patrons, but these need to be dealt with at the source. To include publications and paintings depicting "indecent representation" of a woman's form, in one sweep, could give free rein to moral police to object to women's freedom as models and actors, and also compromise artistic expression. Who's to decide the thin line between what's decent or aesthetic or gross?