It was just few days back when I was out in Bengaluru, celebrating my friend Akaash’s birthday. His girl friend was also there along with one more mutual friend of ours. We all were having a great time, chatting, eating and enjoying a good laugh every now and then. After the cake was cut, Akash’s girlfriend presented her a card that she made herself along with a couple of other gifts. That gesture of hers made him really happy, he couldn’t control his excitement after that and he gave her a kiss.
He had never done that before in a public place (as he told) but that time it just happened in the moment. The reaction of a couple of people who I guess saw them, was worth watching. They looked at us as if we were some kind of aliens. But it was not them who caused problems; the real fuss was created when a middle aged man came to us and started speaking to us in Kannada in a very disrespectful tone, moments after they shared a kiss. When he realized that we weren’t locals, his voice got even louder and he started shouting in English, telling us how uncultured and shameless to commit such a huge crime in a public place.
We had to no clue how to react, as we never expected such a thing to happen just over a small kiss. We kept quiet and the guy left soon after the outburst. The whole atmosphere was ruined and the rest of the day went pretty dull.
This incident made me wonder if kissing in public is against the law or not? And as a matter of fact, its not. Nowhere in the Indian Penal Code is it written that kissing in a public place is a criminal offence. The section 294 of IPC states that –
“Whoever, to the annoyance of others;
(a)Does any obscene act in any public place, or
(b)Sings, recites or utters any obscene song, balled or words, in or near any public place,
Shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.”
The definition of the word ‘obscene’ is left completely open to interpretation. But if we look at some cases from the past, then sharing a light moment with your partner in a public place is not considered as breaking the law.
Last year in November when people gathered in Kochi to take part in ‘Kiss Fest’ as a form of protest against moral policing, no action was taken against them on the grounds of kissing in public, by the police. The DCP of Kochi, R Nishanthini, said, “It is too early to comment on the security details as there are six more days for the event. Since kissing is personal and legal, we won’t disrupt the event unless any law and order issue arises.”
There have been other occasions as well where the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India have clearly indicated that kissing does not come under obscenity and it’s not a punishable offence.
One fine example of such instance is when in 2009 a couple was caught by police in Delhi Metro Station for kissing. When the case was discussed in High Court, Justice S. Muralidhar dismissed the case by saying, “It is inconceivable how, even if one were to take what is stated in the FIR to be true (namely, that the couple kissed in public), the expression of love by a young married couple…would attract the offence of ‘obscenity’ and trigger the coercive process of the law.”
Kissing is an act of love and its’ not obscene in any manner whatsoever then I don’t understand why our society doesn’t want to accept it. Dismissing this process of evolvement by saying that ‘it is against Indian culture’ makes no sense at all. People in India have been kissing for the same number of years as any other western country. It’s not something which we have started recently.
If the society wants to move forward then it has to be open to change. Parties like Hindu Mahasabha, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, who on the name of moral policing take the law in their hands, are nothing but blockage, a blockage to the continuously growing and evolving Indian society. It is because of these people a very dirty image is being portrayed of an act as small as kissing.
When these parties protested against Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty for indulging in a kiss publically, and lodged an FIR against them, the Supreme Court dismissed the case saying it had no grounds at all. It clearly shows the incompetency of these parties and explains the fact that their only objective is to create mountains out of molehills.
The vague laws of our constitution don’t help either. Until and unless they don’t mention it explicitly that kissing is not an obscene act, this debate will go on and on. I think this is where the government should step in and clearly mark the lines which are already drawn. Why leave the words like ‘annoyance’ and ‘tolerance’ open to misinterpretation when it can be explained properly.
Irrespective of the change which does or does not happens In IPC, kissing in a public place is not a crime and you cannot be charged for it. It’s high time that our society accepts this fact and stop raising fingers on an act which deserves no attention at all.
