Licensed to Peep ?

Our land never runs short of hot topics and every  cross section of the society contributes its mite in keeping this flame alive. People vie with each other and we see a rare unity in this. Some of these start with a mild spark such as Koodangulam, Sachin's ton, Betting in Cricket, Doping in sports, Age row in Army etc.,  and then peak over a period f time. There are some which erupt like Mount Etna and make people sit up. A cursory glance at the day's newspaper will reveal a lot. Some such are the recent incidents of 2G, N D Tiwari's act & conviction,  teen stabbing a teacher in school and the most shocking of these surfaced few days back- Our elected representatives in the legislature caught red handed watching objectionable and obscene matters when the legislature was in session.

Over the past few days, ever since this erupted as a scandal, one could read any number  of comments on this act- some were outright condemning , some not satisfied with their resignation but also require them to be jailed, some wants them to be barred for a specific period, some going to the extent of their being punished with hanging and  some even calling for the ouster of the government.. The outburst  brings to the fore two things : Existence of freedom of speech  and the non-reluctance of people to come out openly and call a spade a spade, without fear or fervor.

After the initial euphoria died, there were voices that rose to play the Devil's advocate. There were  some open blog posts in leading newspapers ranging from  "what wrong they have done",  "Why should people indulge in moral policing", "Honestly tell us how many of the commoners are not doing this", "People who see such film shots are not necessarily bad" , "Is there any law which says that people should not watch things inside the Assembly" ……..  I am numbed not only by many of these comments  but by the audacity in trying to justify this act.  Is it the price we pay for the hard fought freedom of speech and expression?  I neither know the existence or non existence of rules preventing such acts either inside the assembly or in public places nor willing to judge whether they are really as bad as the ones who does such acts in the privacy or not yet caught in the act; So, I am not competent to question or debate or castigate these as bad comments.

But, as a common man, I have some queries. Will these advocates mull over and then decide whether this is to be deprecated  or not:

• Have these people been elected to watch such film shots when the Assembly is in session or discuss and fight for people's rights?
• Are these aware of the cost of an Assembly session, which they were frittering away?
• If they really feel that there is nothing wrong with such acts, at the next election campaign will they announce openly that  they will indulge in such acts as they are not declared illegal.
• Are these film shots more important than the topic of the discussion which was happening at that time - hoisting of the Pakistan flag in Bijapur District?
• If watching porn clips is not an offense, will these people do this in the drawing rooms of their  own home?
• If it is not unlawful,  if a group of people watch such movies in a corner of the majestic circle in Bengaluru , will the Police act against them or not?
• What will be their reaction, if the mobile phone of their son/daughter contain such film strips?
• If so, have  we elected some with a license to peep into the privacy of others from  a public place?
• Have we erred in electing such peeping toms or will do it again , given a chance?

Just because, you have freedom to write and there is an avenue to express , one cannot express anything. I feel under such free environment the writer has greater responsibility than the one indulging in such acts. It is this misplaced understanding of the freedom, that is going to be a bigger challenge in the days to come.

Whatever be the judgement , dear legislators, please don’t tell others that you have been elected to represent me !