Will Customs Confiscate Kama Sutra? Moral Policing?
THE Customs confiscated certain goods alleging them to be obscene. From Additional Commissioner to Tribunal, all the adjudicators found the goods to be obscene even though an eminent lady had opined that “ Every civilised society in the world permits adult entertainment within the privacy of their homes, without flouting moral values, and moral policing cannot be condoned when society itself has relaxed its notions of permissiveness in terms of dress code, marital status and even gender orientation”. In view of the above facts, and considering that literature, cinema, advertisement, hoardings, lifestyle everything has undergone a sea change since sex education was introduced in schools it is my considered opinion that one cannot object to these games which are avowedly meant for adults who are expected to be responsible to their duties as parents and conscientious members of society”. Her opinion did not find favour with the Tribunal.
But the High Court took a different view. The High Court observed, “Acquisition of knowledge for enjoyment of sex through various means is not by itself a prohibited activity”. High Court held that the goods were not obscene, “ If that not be so, books like Kama Sutra should also be banned on the charge of obscenity as this ancient Sanskrit treatise on the art of love and sexual techniques also candidly contains various instructions for heightening the pleasures of sexual enjoyment”.
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Can the decision on what is obscene, be left to the intelligence or the lack of it of the Customs?
Khushwant Singh is said to have subscribed to the ‘Screw' magazine, which the customs department cleared on the pretext of it being an engineering guide!
Khushwant Sing once wrote, “Once when I was in the US I took a year's subscription to Playboy and wrote to its editor not to have the name of the magazine on the wrapper. He ignored my request. No sooner, than the first copy arrived, I got a letter from the Indian customs asking me to explain why I was receiving obscene literature. I have little doubt the customs chaps enjoyed looking at the girlie pictures and even sold the journal at a considerable profit!”
RK Laxman also had a similar experience with the Indian Customs.