The penal law in India is very clear. Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code penalises any person, who, amongst others, by a visible representation, promotes religious disharmony, ill-will or a feeling of hatred. Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code penalises any person who destroys, damages or defiles any object held sacred by any class of persons, with the intention of thereby insulting the sentiments of such class, or with the intention of such defilement being regarded as an insult to religion. If such explicit scenes had been shown in a cinema, would the Censor Board have ever cleared it? In England, a video work titled Visions of Ecstasy was not cleared by the censors on the test that “The question is not one of the matter expressed, but of its manner, that is, the tone, style and spirit, in which it is presented. The video work submitted by you depicts the mingling of religious ecstasy and sexual passion, a matter which may be of legitimate concern to the artist. It becomes subject to the law of blasphemy, however, if the manner of its presentation is bound to give rise to outrage at the unacceptable treatment of a sacred subject. Because the wounded body of the crucified Christ is presented solely as the focus, and at certain moments a participant in, the erotic desire of St. Teresa, with no attempt to explore the meaning of the imagery beyond engaging the viewer in an erotic experience, it is the Board’s view, and that of its legal advisers, that a reasonable jury properly directed would find that the work infringes the criminal law of blasphemy.”

... contd.