Mumbai bans lingerie-clad mannequins to save men from 'impure thoughts'
Mumbai, home of India's increasingly raunchy Bollywood film industry, is to ban mannequins modeling lingerie from its shop windows to stop the city's men having "impure thoughts".
Members of Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, however, said the mannequins were illegal and immoral Photo: ALAMY
By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
2:22PM BST 28 May 2013
Representatives on the city's local authority have voted to ban the models in a move they believe may reduce the number of rapes and sexual assaults.
Local councillors, known as corporators, said mannequins dressed in lacey underwear, stockings and suspenders, had led to a "pollution of minds" among men in the city, which has India's second highest number of rapes after Delhi.
Opponents said the mannequins were not as suggestive as erotic sculptures and carvings at celebrated temples like Khajuraho, which feature scenes of group sex and bestiality.
Members of Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, however, said the mannequins were illegal and immoral. "I have raised this issue and want an end to showcasing of women's body on Mumbai streets. Mannequins displaying two-piece clothes or other lingerie are corrupting the minds of people and are against the morals of the society. This affects the mindset of men towards women and they see her as a commodity. As a member of the society, we have to understand the awkwardness a woman or a family in a market will feel standing in front of such a mannequin," said Ritu Tawade, who proposed the ban.
"Our demand to ban the displaying of mannequins wearing scantly dresses is based on the Provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, which says 'indecent representation of women means the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman; her form or body or any part thereof in such way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals,'" she explained.
