Kolkata Metro Case

While the whole country is going crazy over Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, here in Kolkata, we are seeing some crazier things going on. Recently, a couple was thrown out of the metro and totally beaten up by some middle aged men. Guess why?

Because they were simply hugging. (However, no one knows for sure if he was hugging the girl or just protecting her from the crowd.)

Anyway, when I heard of the whole incident, I was intrigued to read about the laws in our country related to hugging, kissing, which is also known as PDA. So I went to the best place to find more about this, not tinder, but on Google and typed, “Is it illegal to kiss and hug in public in India?” This is what I came across: Under section 294 of the Indian Penal Code, causing annoyance to others through "obscene acts" is a criminal offence with a punishment of imprisonment up to 3 months or a fine, or both.

Let’s read it closely, ‘CAUSING ANNOYANCE TO OTHERS THROUGH OBSCENE ACTS.’

Yet again, this intrigued me to know what this word obscene meant. I consulted my very old friend, Oxford Dictionary. Obscene is something which is offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency.

This further intrigued me, what are these accepted standards of morality and decency?

And then, I got my answer.

·        A man pissing on the road in his own happy time is the accepted standard.

·        A girl being harassed on the bus and all men just standing around is the accepted standard.

·        A child begging for food getting blatantly ignored in the accepted standard.

The truth is that our accepted norms of morality and decency have somehow stayed back decades ago. Honestly, things have improved and we have come a long way as a society. But there is still a lot more to cover. And until and unless we try to adapt with the diverse world that we live in, we can never call ourselves developed.