In Mumbai, it took one prudish petitioner. The high court reiterated its December 2005 ban on ‘adult content’ on TV, extending it to direct-to-home providers and broadcasters. Some cable operators feel much better — why, indeed, should they alone suffer the Mumbai police’s midnight knock? There are small mercies for the average couch potato in Mumbai as well — films certified U/A will be shown after all. And serials are spared the axe. For now. But over all, the court’s decision is cause for celebrations in the morality brigade. This brigade, remember, has been on a winning streak in one of India’s most cosmopolitan cities that was. From the state home minister’s feverish crusade against dance bars to police strictures that sculptures and paintings showing body parts at an art exhibition be covered up or else, it’s been a string of visible successes for those who make it their business to mind all Mumbaikars’ morals. That irate college professor who petitioned the court to banish ‘adult content’ from her own TV set and everybody else’s too is part of a sunrise industry. We’ve all tracked the sprawl of intolerance in the metropolis but this court ban makes it especially poignant. The court, after all, is seen as the last refuge for individuals who fear their freedoms are being hemmed in by the state. In recent times, the judiciary has spoken up for the citizen when other institutions have failed him. Judicial activism helped clean up the air she breathes, it memorably lashed out at the chief minister who fiddled while his state burnt, ensured that victims’ hope for justice remains alive. For the court now to take up position next to the nanny state and the moral police is a sad let-down. There is a simple answer to the concerns the petitioner raised. If you don’t think the film on TV is suitable for your children, use the remote. Better still, talk to them, guide them to make the ‘right’ choices. Blanket bans and censorship are dangerous short-cuts, intolerable in an open society. Hopefully, the apex court will step in to restore reason.
