Me Thinks...

Secular Country: Are You Kidding Me?

Who has the supreme right to decide what is moral/immoral? Is it religion or judiciary?

In India, religion plays an important role in every sphere of our lives be it political, cultural or social. I would say more than playing an important role religion at times creates havoc in our lives. And, the recent Delhi court ruling upholding that the pre-marital sex is "immoral" and against the "tenets of every religion", is the classic example of how religion plays a spoiler at times. However, what came as a surprise is the court saying that the pre-marital sex is against the various religious mandates. Courts should remember that they are not ruling this country. Our constitution says ours is a secular country. Is it for real?

The recent ruling only shows that our country is making its shift from being secular, democratic country to being a religion dominated country. This is heartening to know that on one hand the Supreme Court rules that live-in relationships shall be considered on par with marriage and also there is a precedent of treating sex under false pretence as rape while on the other hand the Delhi court thinks otherwise. The Supreme Court and Delhi court rulings are totally ambiguous in nature.

This apart, why is the pre-marital sex is such a big taboo in the country. Some are vocal about it while some are indulging in it but are averse of accepting it in public. The court’s reference to religion while deciding on morality of pre-marital sex is regressive. While every religion considers woman’s virginity a must at the time of marriage, there is no reference to code of conduct for man’s virginity. I am not being feminist but majority of men expect their wives or girlfriends to be virgin before starting a relationship. This reminds me of Priety Zinta asking Shah Rukh Khan (in Dil Se), “Are you a virgin”? And Shah Rukh Khan saying that he can ask the same question to her. This happened in the movie but in the society full of hypocrisy, a woman is not suppose to question a man’s virginity/preferences or about his sexual escapades.

Besides, I would say part of the ruling which says if a woman, especially grown up, educated and office- going, who has sexual intercourse on the assurance of marriage, does so “at her own peril” is correct. Any matured woman would think about the consequences before getting into pre-marital sex, in case, the relationship fails. This only shows that Indian women are still being emotional fools and can be easily fooled/victimized by men in the name of love/marriage. Women need to have clarity over their actions and its respective repercussions. I know this won’t go down well with the women but that’s a fact. Law in the country has always been biased towards women and this has been misused a lot of times. So, it is time that there is law that prohibits false claims of rape/abuse and grave actions are taken against the accused.

Though, the Delhi court ruling is based on the individual case. The court should not create confusion by bringing in the matter of morality while the court ruling was totally based on an individual case. Whether to have pre-marital sex or not is totally an individual choice and morality has nothing to do with it. Also, religion should not be brought into matters of law. There was no need to refer to religion as we all know that how many of the religious dictats in regards to women are respected in the country. If that was the case then crimes against women would have been almost uprooted from the country.