This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-37, Nov-Dec 1986)
The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Bill, 1986, just passed by the Rajya Sabha and introduced into the Lok Sabha, is so absurd a piece of legislation that it would not be worth wasting time over, were it not that it confers a number of arbitrary powers on government officials, which will lend themselves to abuse. The ridiculously vague and all encompassing definition of what is indecent and derogatory to women clearly shows that government has not the slightest intention of taking this law seriously.
Considering how much debate and research have been conducted in different parts of the world around the issue of obscenity, even a consultation of elementary textbooks would have enabled them to draw up a less amateurish and shabby document…