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One of the more famous episodes in Indian mythology is of Lakshman drawing a line that Sita was not to cross. Today, we are a nation where governments and political organizations are drawing hundreds of rekhas that are not to be crossed. The curbs on the sale of meat imposed by several states are only the latest example of this growing craze for bans.The examples on this page show, our governments have been extremely creative in coming up with bans.
1.
Don't eat
Rajasthan and Gujarat traditionally disallow sale of meat during the nine days of the Jain festival of Paryushan. This year Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Haryana ordered bans on meat sale during the festival. Chhattisgarh extended the ban to Ganesh Chaturthi on September 17.
On March 3 this year, Maharashtra became the 8th state in India to ban beef after Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Selective slaughter of cattle is allowed in 14 other states. The rest of the states have no restrictions on cow slaughter. Under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, even possession of beef can lead to a jail sentence of five years or a fine of Rs 10,000.
In May, the UP government banned Nestle’s Maggi after tests showed presence of MSG and lead beyond permissible limits. Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and others followed suit. On June 5, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ordered recall of all Maggi stock, forcing Nestle India to halt production. Bombay HC was critical of FSSAI for singling out Maggi for testing.
Alcohol, meat and fish are permanently banned in parts of Palitana in Gujarat, a Jain pilgrim centre, and in the Hindu spiritual hubs of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand. In Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, meat shops on the routes taken by Kanwarias during the annual pilgrimage to Haridwar are banned.
In June, Madhya Pradesh banned eggs in mid-day meals for schoolchildren.
Gujarat has been under prohibition since 1960. A ban on mahua-based liquor is in force in Jharkhand for over two decades now. Liquor sale disallowed by underground militants in Manipur and Nagaland since the early 1990s.
In Kerala, no hotels, except those classified as five star, are allowed to sell liquor. Most of the 300 hotels that used to sell liquor before the ban imposed in April this year, have turned into beer and wine parlours.
On national holidays such as Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti and religious occasions like Good Friday, Eid, Janamashtmi and Diwali, there is no sale of liquor in most states. Delhi goes dry on 24 days every year.
2.
Don’t read
Mumbai University dropped Rohinton Mistry’s book ‘Such A Long Journey’ from its reading list at the behest of the Shiv Sena, which protested that the book was derisive of it. Mistry’s book, set in India in the 1970s, was shortlisted for the Booker.
‘Charandas Chor’ by playwright and social activist Habib Tanvir cannot be read in Madhya Pradesh since 2009.
In Gujarat, BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book ‘Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence’ was banned in 2009 for “tarnishing the image” of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The state government has also proscribed ‘Great Soul’, a biography of Mahatma Gandhi, by former New York Times editor Joseph Lelyveld.
In Uttar Pradesh, you cannot own a copy of or read ‘Jati Raj’ by former provincial civil services officer Lakshmi Kant Shukla, ‘Udayiman Bhartiya Samaj me Shikshak’ by Dr Karan Singh, ‘Nehru Gandhi Parivar - Secular’ or ‘Varn Sankar’ by Hari Ram Gupta and ‘Rani’, a biography of Rani Laxmibai, by Jaishree Misra.
In Tamil Nadu, Vaasanthi’s ‘Jayalalithaa: A Portrait’ has been banned since 2012, and two have faced trouble this year, Perumal Murugan’s ‘Mathorubagan’ and Puliyur Murugesan’s ‘Balachandran Enra Peyarum Enakkundu’.
3.
Don’t see
In March, a BBC documentary on Nirbhaya, the girl brutally gangraped in December 2012, made by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin was proscribed in India. Comments about the incidents and women by Mukesh Singh, one of the accused in the gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya, in an interview in the film led to outrage.
Telecom ministry ordered ISPs to block access to 857 websites hosting pornographic content in August. Scaled down order after outrage. The same month, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ was refused certification by the Central Board of Film Certification. The film was effectively banned in India because no film can be publicly exhibited without clearance.
The UP government banned Yash Chopra’s ‘Aaja Nachle’, Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ and Prakash Jha’s ‘Aarakshan’. In 2009, the Lucknow administration denied permission to a Pakistani theatre group to stage “Jinne Lahore Nahin Vekhya”, leading to the cancellation of theatre festival “Bharangam” hosted by Bhartendu Natya Akademi in the city.
The Punjab government has banned the public exhibit of film ‘The Mastermind Jinda-Sukha’, based on the lives of Khalistan Commando Force terrorists Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha who assassinated General A S Vaidya in 1986. Two films with a religious subject, ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’ and ‘Messenger of God’, were also stopped from screening this year. Punjab banned ‘Sadda Haq’ in April 2013 on the ground that it glorified militancy. Gujarat has seen a number of bans on films, including Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Fanaa’, ‘Parzania’ and ‘Chand Bujh Gaya’. Two plays, ‘Maulana Azad’ and ‘Suno Nadi Kehti Hai’ were also banned.
In Kerala, ‘Prabhuvinte Makkal’, by ‘Sajeevan Anthikkad’, was blocked on YouTube, while Tamil Nadu banned Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ (edited version released later).
Homosexuality is a touchy subject. In March 2012, Indian-Canadian photo-artist Sunil Gupta’s exhibition in Delhi titled “Sun City and Other Stories: Paris-San FranciscoDelhi” was shut down by the Delhi Police because of its theme of homosexuality.
4.
Don’t party
Citizens don’t have the right to decide how long they can party. Delhi shuts down bars by 1am while Mumbai has a 1.30am deadline. In the capital, even clubs that have a 24/7 licence can’t play music after 1am though they can serve liquor. (This is because another ban prohibits playing of music beyond 11pm). After several protests, Bengaluru managed to get its nightlife curfew extended to 11.30 pm on weekdays, and 1am on weekends. ➤ In 2005, Maharashtra shut down dance bars, affecting the livelihood of over 75,000 bar dancers. A decade later, the ban still stands though a petition challenging it is pending in the Supreme Court.
5.
Don’t cuss
Bollywood can't abuse, saala. Within weeks of taking over as Censor Board chief, Pahlaj Nihalani introduced the infamous "cuss list" with even "Bombay" on it. The list was later withdrawn, but the test will be when Anurag Kashyap returns to Wasseypur. Television is even more sanitized, and shows like 'Californication' and 'Orange is the new Black' are just a series of bleeps and blurs.
6.
Don’t, don’t, don’t...
Beauty contests are banned in educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, a ban imposed by the Madras high court on February 26, 2015. The Uttar Pradesh government too had stopped beauty contests, but has since lifted the ban. Delhi has a strange ban — no kissing, only looking. There can be no public displays of affection and couples indulging in PDA are liable to be charged for obscenity under the Indian Penal Code.
7.
Where the state doesn’t stop you, the moral police will intimidate you
8.
Anti-Pak pack
Whether it was Shiv Sena disrupting a presser by Pakistani band Mekaal Hasan in Mumbai last year telling them to go home, or ensuring an Atif Aslam concert is cancelled in Pune this April, the culture police has been particularly active against artistes from across the border.
In a display of last-minute nerves, Mumbai Police last December withheld permission to a achal Band event at the NCPA. Delhi's track record is no better with theatre group Ajoka's play 'Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakh' dropped from the national theatre festival two years ago.
9.
Roast ruckus
Comedy collective All India Bakchod's first attempt at a 'roast' earlier this year had to be taken down from YouTube after falling foul of various right-wing groups and a political party. It was definitely rude and smutty, but as AIB pointed out, no one was forcing people to watch it.
10.
Pulp friction
Penguin decided to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History from the market last year and pulp all remaining copies in the face of impending legal action and threats to its employees. For similar reasons, Orient Blackswan decided to do a “pre-release assessment” of Rhodes scholar Megha Kumar’s book Communalism and Sexual Violence: Ahmedabad since 1969. Kerala’s literary critic MM Basheer was coerced into dropping his column on Ramayana after a series of hostile phone calls. Tamil novelist Joe D’Cruz was dragged to court over his portrayal of the fishing community in Tuticorin. And among the saddest such cases, Tamil writer Perumal, hounded by strong caste groups declared himself “dead” as an author on Facebook.
11.
Art attack
One of the worst victims of censorship has been one of India’s most famous painters, M F Husain. His paintings have been defaced, his films banned in Gujarat, his property vandalized, and even an absurd bounty of Rs 51 crore announced for his silver head, forcing him into exile in Qatar.
Even after his death, the ire hasn't eased up. A Ganesha painting at the Marriott in Mumbai was removed last year after one visitor objected to a nude woman painted alongside the god. Nudes also offended the "sensibility" of a right-wing group in Delhi in 2013, though the organizers refused to buckle under the protests.
12.
Beaten with moral stick
Sri Ram Sene's Pramod Muthalik may have become the face of the moral police after the attack on young women at a pub in 2009, but it’s a script that plays out everywhere. Remember the Sania short skirt fatwa, Meerut's Operation Majnu and the V-day attacks? Just last month, Mumbai police rounded up couples from a hotel in Madh, and humiliated them.
Ban Ka Desh: The rise of an intolerant nation- The Times of India
1.
Don't eat
Rajasthan and Gujarat traditionally disallow sale of meat during the nine days of the Jain festival of Paryushan. This year Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Haryana ordered bans on meat sale during the festival. Chhattisgarh extended the ban to Ganesh Chaturthi on September 17.
On March 3 this year, Maharashtra became the 8th state in India to ban beef after Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Selective slaughter of cattle is allowed in 14 other states. The rest of the states have no restrictions on cow slaughter. Under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, even possession of beef can lead to a jail sentence of five years or a fine of Rs 10,000.
In May, the UP government banned Nestle’s Maggi after tests showed presence of MSG and lead beyond permissible limits. Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and others followed suit. On June 5, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ordered recall of all Maggi stock, forcing Nestle India to halt production. Bombay HC was critical of FSSAI for singling out Maggi for testing.
Alcohol, meat and fish are permanently banned in parts of Palitana in Gujarat, a Jain pilgrim centre, and in the Hindu spiritual hubs of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand. In Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, meat shops on the routes taken by Kanwarias during the annual pilgrimage to Haridwar are banned.
In June, Madhya Pradesh banned eggs in mid-day meals for schoolchildren.
Gujarat has been under prohibition since 1960. A ban on mahua-based liquor is in force in Jharkhand for over two decades now. Liquor sale disallowed by underground militants in Manipur and Nagaland since the early 1990s.
In Kerala, no hotels, except those classified as five star, are allowed to sell liquor. Most of the 300 hotels that used to sell liquor before the ban imposed in April this year, have turned into beer and wine parlours.
On national holidays such as Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti and religious occasions like Good Friday, Eid, Janamashtmi and Diwali, there is no sale of liquor in most states. Delhi goes dry on 24 days every year.
2.
Don’t read
Mumbai University dropped Rohinton Mistry’s book ‘Such A Long Journey’ from its reading list at the behest of the Shiv Sena, which protested that the book was derisive of it. Mistry’s book, set in India in the 1970s, was shortlisted for the Booker.
‘Charandas Chor’ by playwright and social activist Habib Tanvir cannot be read in Madhya Pradesh since 2009.
In Gujarat, BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book ‘Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence’ was banned in 2009 for “tarnishing the image” of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The state government has also proscribed ‘Great Soul’, a biography of Mahatma Gandhi, by former New York Times editor Joseph Lelyveld.
In Uttar Pradesh, you cannot own a copy of or read ‘Jati Raj’ by former provincial civil services officer Lakshmi Kant Shukla, ‘Udayiman Bhartiya Samaj me Shikshak’ by Dr Karan Singh, ‘Nehru Gandhi Parivar - Secular’ or ‘Varn Sankar’ by Hari Ram Gupta and ‘Rani’, a biography of Rani Laxmibai, by Jaishree Misra.
In Tamil Nadu, Vaasanthi’s ‘Jayalalithaa: A Portrait’ has been banned since 2012, and two have faced trouble this year, Perumal Murugan’s ‘Mathorubagan’ and Puliyur Murugesan’s ‘Balachandran Enra Peyarum Enakkundu’.
3.
Don’t see
In March, a BBC documentary on Nirbhaya, the girl brutally gangraped in December 2012, made by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin was proscribed in India. Comments about the incidents and women by Mukesh Singh, one of the accused in the gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya, in an interview in the film led to outrage.
Telecom ministry ordered ISPs to block access to 857 websites hosting pornographic content in August. Scaled down order after outrage. The same month, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ was refused certification by the Central Board of Film Certification. The film was effectively banned in India because no film can be publicly exhibited without clearance.
The UP government banned Yash Chopra’s ‘Aaja Nachle’, Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ and Prakash Jha’s ‘Aarakshan’. In 2009, the Lucknow administration denied permission to a Pakistani theatre group to stage “Jinne Lahore Nahin Vekhya”, leading to the cancellation of theatre festival “Bharangam” hosted by Bhartendu Natya Akademi in the city.
The Punjab government has banned the public exhibit of film ‘The Mastermind Jinda-Sukha’, based on the lives of Khalistan Commando Force terrorists Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha who assassinated General A S Vaidya in 1986. Two films with a religious subject, ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’ and ‘Messenger of God’, were also stopped from screening this year. Punjab banned ‘Sadda Haq’ in April 2013 on the ground that it glorified militancy. Gujarat has seen a number of bans on films, including Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Fanaa’, ‘Parzania’ and ‘Chand Bujh Gaya’. Two plays, ‘Maulana Azad’ and ‘Suno Nadi Kehti Hai’ were also banned.
In Kerala, ‘Prabhuvinte Makkal’, by ‘Sajeevan Anthikkad’, was blocked on YouTube, while Tamil Nadu banned Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ (edited version released later).
Homosexuality is a touchy subject. In March 2012, Indian-Canadian photo-artist Sunil Gupta’s exhibition in Delhi titled “Sun City and Other Stories: Paris-San FranciscoDelhi” was shut down by the Delhi Police because of its theme of homosexuality.
4.
Don’t party
Citizens don’t have the right to decide how long they can party. Delhi shuts down bars by 1am while Mumbai has a 1.30am deadline. In the capital, even clubs that have a 24/7 licence can’t play music after 1am though they can serve liquor. (This is because another ban prohibits playing of music beyond 11pm). After several protests, Bengaluru managed to get its nightlife curfew extended to 11.30 pm on weekdays, and 1am on weekends. ➤ In 2005, Maharashtra shut down dance bars, affecting the livelihood of over 75,000 bar dancers. A decade later, the ban still stands though a petition challenging it is pending in the Supreme Court.
5.
Don’t cuss
Bollywood can't abuse, saala. Within weeks of taking over as Censor Board chief, Pahlaj Nihalani introduced the infamous "cuss list" with even "Bombay" on it. The list was later withdrawn, but the test will be when Anurag Kashyap returns to Wasseypur. Television is even more sanitized, and shows like 'Californication' and 'Orange is the new Black' are just a series of bleeps and blurs.
6.
Don’t, don’t, don’t...
Beauty contests are banned in educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, a ban imposed by the Madras high court on February 26, 2015. The Uttar Pradesh government too had stopped beauty contests, but has since lifted the ban. Delhi has a strange ban — no kissing, only looking. There can be no public displays of affection and couples indulging in PDA are liable to be charged for obscenity under the Indian Penal Code.
7.
Where the state doesn’t stop you, the moral police will intimidate you
8.
Anti-Pak pack
Whether it was Shiv Sena disrupting a presser by Pakistani band Mekaal Hasan in Mumbai last year telling them to go home, or ensuring an Atif Aslam concert is cancelled in Pune this April, the culture police has been particularly active against artistes from across the border.
In a display of last-minute nerves, Mumbai Police last December withheld permission to a achal Band event at the NCPA. Delhi's track record is no better with theatre group Ajoka's play 'Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakh' dropped from the national theatre festival two years ago.
9.
Roast ruckus
Comedy collective All India Bakchod's first attempt at a 'roast' earlier this year had to be taken down from YouTube after falling foul of various right-wing groups and a political party. It was definitely rude and smutty, but as AIB pointed out, no one was forcing people to watch it.
10.
Pulp friction
Penguin decided to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History from the market last year and pulp all remaining copies in the face of impending legal action and threats to its employees. For similar reasons, Orient Blackswan decided to do a “pre-release assessment” of Rhodes scholar Megha Kumar’s book Communalism and Sexual Violence: Ahmedabad since 1969. Kerala’s literary critic MM Basheer was coerced into dropping his column on Ramayana after a series of hostile phone calls. Tamil novelist Joe D’Cruz was dragged to court over his portrayal of the fishing community in Tuticorin. And among the saddest such cases, Tamil writer Perumal, hounded by strong caste groups declared himself “dead” as an author on Facebook.
11.
Art attack
One of the worst victims of censorship has been one of India’s most famous painters, M F Husain. His paintings have been defaced, his films banned in Gujarat, his property vandalized, and even an absurd bounty of Rs 51 crore announced for his silver head, forcing him into exile in Qatar.
Even after his death, the ire hasn't eased up. A Ganesha painting at the Marriott in Mumbai was removed last year after one visitor objected to a nude woman painted alongside the god. Nudes also offended the "sensibility" of a right-wing group in Delhi in 2013, though the organizers refused to buckle under the protests.
12.
Beaten with moral stick
Sri Ram Sene's Pramod Muthalik may have become the face of the moral police after the attack on young women at a pub in 2009, but it’s a script that plays out everywhere. Remember the Sania short skirt fatwa, Meerut's Operation Majnu and the V-day attacks? Just last month, Mumbai police rounded up couples from a hotel in Madh, and humiliated them.
Ban Ka Desh: The rise of an intolerant nation- The Times of India
