The Hindu Business Line : Laurels from morals

IT IS all happening as if on cue — this sudden springing into action by authorities to rid society of the `pollution' of plunging necklines and rising hemlines, and to guard it from the unholy sight of swaying female bodies in bars and clubs. Maharashtra went hammer and tongs against dance bars in right earnest, to howls of protest from those who depended on such exposure for their livelihoods. The State Government is hell-bent on bringing a Bill in the monsoon session of the Assembly to ban the bane.

There is no clue in published reports about how the customers reacted to all these efforts to save their souls. All that they could do, perhaps, was to console themselves by recalling the broadside of Lord Macaulay directed at the Puritans of Oliver Cromwell's time in England that they forbade bear-baiting "not because it gave pain to the bears but because it gave pleasure to the spectators" and wondering whether the purpose of the moral crusaders in their midst was also not so much to undertake the social cleansing of the denizens of the dance bars but to deprive them of the little enjoyment they derived from these pursuits. Not to be left behind, the Delhi University has decided to enforce decency in the way its students dress by making them adhere to a dress code. The ostensible argument is that permissiveness in this respect is the root cause of crimes such as molestation and rape. There has predictably been an uproar, one section of teachers and students claiming their inalienable right to dress as they please and the other willing to abide by the University's diktat.

Now the Kerala Government too is getting into the act by banning fashion shows, cinematic dances and camera cell phones in educational institutions.

Tamil Nadu has not gone overboard (so far) like the three States, but has made its own fears of licentiousness evident by launching a drive against violations by hotels and discos of rules regarding admission of minors, serving of drinks and closing hours. The public, however, would like the police not to fritter away their energies in minding others' morals but use them to good effect in sternly putting down burglaries, dacoities and murders and bringing criminals to book by quick and thorough investigation.

B. S. Raghavan

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