Censorship...the forgotten point of view

Those were the months that went by when not a day passed without someone crying foul over the curtailing of the "freedom of expression" (and all the other "freedom*"). I am talking about the months that finally led to the closure of dance bars (first in Maharashtra excluding Mumbai and then in Mumbai). Many "freedom zealots" raised a lot of arguments opposing the ban - some of these arguments were an "eye opener" to say the least. Sample some of them:

• With dance bars closing, the jobless women will take to prostituion
• It is much safer to travel in the night because there are always people around (believe me - some people actually said that!)
• Men will now start spending their monies in other illegitimate ways
• If dance bars are banned, so should all other activities like smoking, alcohol, etc.
• All 5 star hotels should stop the dances since they too have women dancing with little clothes
• ...and so on

Although I agree with some of the statements above, I do not support the "freedom movement". Freedom, as everyone knows, comes with its own responsibilities and duties. In India, the mental age of people is very low (this maybe because of illiteracy or Bollywood films or whatever). Therefore, censorship becomes essential.

One point that I want to particularly highlight is this: the recent sentencing to death in the Borivli double murder case brought back this issue to my mind. It should be noted that the boys in the case were thinking of robbing their victims because they wanted money to spend on the girls in a dance bar. It has also been reported that one of the boys was a drug addict - but we will overlook that issue since drugs are already banned (and no one has a problem with that...except maybe the addicts themselves).

That many robberies took place or desire to make a quick buck was felt because of the lure of the dance bars is well known. In a discussion with some people, when this argument was put forward supporting the ban on the dance bars, the "freedom guys" pointed out that money is also being sought after for things like cigarettes and alcohol. So, even these should be banned.

But the magnitude of money spent in smoking is so miniscule that it is pointless to commit a robbery just to get a cigarette. I mean we are talking about a difference in scale. The money spent by individuals in a dance bar has been reported to be in the few thousands in a sinlge night. Now, if someone blows up that much money for smoke in a single day, he will surely die (or it might be one of those famed Cuban cigars (Davidoff?) that cost a fortune). Ditto for alcohol.

We do not know the "real" reason for the dance bar ban. (Some have blamed the concerned ministers saying that they were demanding more money from the dance bars which the owners were not willing to cough up.). Whatever be the case, at least, now there is some respite from the nuisances posed by these bars that seemed to be mushrooming up anywhere and everywhere. And, we hope, that wisdom finally dawns upon our people so that they do not want to make a quick buck by harming other innocent people.