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College theatre group disqualified for saying 'bra' and 'panty' on stage

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Sohini Mitter

on January 30, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In a bizarre turn of events, the Delhi Government's cultural wing has taken offence to a college theater group's performance and has "disqualified" them on charges of "obscenity" for using words like "bra" and "panty" in a play, reported the Hindustan Times.

Lakshya - The Theatre Society Of Kamala Nehru College had staged their annual production, Shahira Ke Naam, on Jan. 27 in New Delhi's Mandi House as a part of a theater competition organized by the state government.

The event coordinator reportedly alleged, "They've [Lakshya] broken the rules about obscenity... Not just words like bra and panty, they've used several other cuss words, too."

This is moral policing not only at its worst but also its most ludicrous, where women's innerwear is being considered "obscene" and unacceptable.

Lakshya lashed out at the organizers on their official Facebook page. They "criticized this hypocrisy" in no uncertain terms. "Derogatory and demeaning abuses are acceptable in art forms, but a reference of feminine clothing offends people," they wrote.

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Mashable India reached out to Lakshya for comment. The group said that they "don't wish to engage [sic] media anymore." Calls made to Kamala Nehru College went unanswered as well.

Shahira Ke Naam is a play revolving around the lives of six girls in a hostel and the pranks they play on each other. One of the scenes dwells upon how they mark their underwear in order to avoid confusion. And it is this scene that set tongues wagging at the event.

The convener of the theater society wrote in a Facebook post, "So traumatized were the organizers by the words that they choked on them and could not bring themselves to spell out those "appalling" "disgusting" words while telling us the reason for disqualification. When the students asked them, they ran away from them."

Social media, too, was enraged at the cultural wing's double standards.