Last year in Mumbai, the Indian Customs department seized three drawings by Akbar Padamse and FN Souza because it judged them to fall under the category of 'obscene material'.
The lawyer representing the Customs department made a big hue and cry about maintaining public order, standards of decency, and morality. Both painters are titans of the Indian art scene, and their work is frequently displayed in galleries across the world and also at private events.
By the Customs' yardstick, the Khajuraho temples should either be covered or destroyed. Their ineptitude and misplaced moral policing are endemic to the country, with lesser artists, stand-up comedians, cartoonists, authors, scriptwriters, and filmmakers feeling the heat from law enforcement authorities and politicians with their weird notions of obscenity.
Legal definitions of obscenity remain loose and open to exploitation, such as the clause 'any object that is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest' per BNS. The commonest ruse is to invoke tradition; if institutions and powerful individuals, especially those in the bureaucracy, decide to become censors and self-appointed defenders of public morality, the autonomy of the creative fraternity will always be under threat. The Indian penal codes also need to be amended in this regard.
