"Shmoop!"....
*kissing!!*
Public Displays of Affection, can be seen in the form
of kissing, touching, groping, licking, nuzzling, cuddling, crossing hands into
each other's opposite back pocket, etc. Usually spotted among new couples,
frisky teenagers, and occasionally the "young at heart" (god
help us). ~Dictionary
Same Sex Marriage
(Prohibition) Act 2014 in Nigeria is anti-democratic law, and Section 377 of Indian
Penal Code is a draconian law which criminalizes any activity which is against
the "order of the nature", or the definition of
obscenity and obscene acts in the Section
292/293/294 of the Indian penal Code
is intentionally kept vague and obscure to twist the law and give unlimited
power to Police to harasses who are obstruction to the means of capitalist, bureaucrats
and politicians.
Honorable
Supreme Court of India in the case of Samaresh Bose v. Amal Mitra has differentiated
vulgarity from obscenity.
i) A vulgar
writing is not necessarily obscene. Vulgarity arouses a feeling of disgust and
revulsion and also boredom, but does not have the effect of depriving, debasing
and corrupting the morals of any reader of the novel. Whereas obscenity has the
tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral
influences.
Now we can
overlook the legal aspect since If the police want to book they have numerous provision of the Law, that
they can use. Why they would go for cumbersome law when sedition law, and Cr.P.C.
107 has already given them unlimited power to detain anybody just on the ground
of apprehension and its undefined threat to tranquillity. Courts are not made
to define the law, they interpret the law made by legislation. The Act or Code
itself should contain the definition of all ambiguous terms like unnatural act
or obscenity. The democracy has lost it objectivity and is just another form of
autocracy.
What kind of
public display of affection is intolerable for society? Do the people react in
the same way when an old couple is kissing on a bench in a park when reminiscences
of golden days surges? The society does not find it harmful.We can shun it by
saying a cultural thing, but if we believe in universal applicability of 'Law
of nature', and accept human psyche as synonymous to "nature", we
would be able to differentiate that all types of cultures are on the same
racing track, and the one lagging behind is ready to gallop and surprise the
audience.
The various
acts of public display of affection are holding hands, embracing, kissing
(hands, cheeks, lips, earlobes) or smooching, caressing, cuddling,
fondling, hugging, petting, snuggling, necking-what is the exact stage when
Police would shout 'STOP'- this act of yours is illegal.
Police Department runs shortage of staff, constables are
chasing young couples in the bushes, theft, kidnap, rape and all other crimes
remain uninvestigated, radicals and fundamentalist are getting stronger, and
middle class is the only sector of the society obsessed with values and is
happy with the moral policing their children are facing. So the youth, have
become rebellious and enjoys doing what irritates the older generation.
Literature has reflected the sentiments of society. "Seven Minutes" by Irving Wallace,
"Eleven Minutes" by Paulo Coelho, "Bad Girl"
by Mario Vargas Llosa, "Thy neighbor's wife" by Gay
Talese are some of the examples when the issue of expression of
sexuality has been taken up seriously but a universally acceptable code
of conduct is still a distant dream.
There are exhibits' and voyeurs living symbiotically, chauvinistic
males who display affection to establish
their possession, feminist females who want to win race and take initiative,
people fighting with their own insecurities as if public display would seal the
relationship, some are tempted by libido and some are fun-seekers, there could
be numerous other types involved in the PDA.
What do I suggest?
I suggest stealing an apple and find out yourself if it is
sweeter.
© Vipin
Behari Goyal
Author
is also Advocate at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur
