Chauhan: Culture first

Bhopal, June 19: The Madhya Pradesh government is considering a ban on Hindustan Latex Ltd’s vibrating condom Crezendo on the ground that it is a sex toy.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the BJP government which recently stopped sex education at state-run schools, said he had asked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to outlaw the sale of Crezendo. He said the use of a ring for stimulation brings it “under the category of sex toy”.

Chauhan declared he would not allow the sale of any product if it went against Indian culture.

“I had said this earlier with reference to sex education. If there is something that is not acceptable in our culture, we shall take our own decision on this,” he said, adding that the state drug control department had begun an investigation.

There is a ban on “pornographic material” in India, and customs regularly confiscates sex toys if anyone brings one from abroad.

HLL chairman-cum-managing director M. Ayyappan said he was unaware of the controversy in Madhya Pradesh.

“I haven’t heard about it,” he said, adding that the company hadn’t dubbed the condom a sex toy. Similar products are sold legally in the open market in several countries (where sex toys can be sold only at designated stores), he said.

Priced at Rs 125, the Crezendo pack has a vibrating ring and three premium condoms. The leaflet with the pack describes it as a “passport to The Republic of Pleasure”, adding that the ring is designed to take a couple through a “20-minute joyride through the realms of vibrating pleasure”.

Vijayvargiya said the government had also noted with concern that many Chinese-made sex toys, too, had made a surreptitious entry into the state.

The minister has found support among lawyers. Madhya Pradesh Bar Association president Rameshwar Neekhra said the sale of such objects was covered under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 292, which deals with obscenity.

Neekhra, a Congress member, added that the section states that any article that causes or might cause obscenity is punishable. “As everybody knows what this sex toy is used for, its sale is illegal.”

Bhopal inspector-general of police Sanjeev Kumar Singh, however, was more cautious. He said that if the product was meant to be used in private, there was no direct effect on society.

“But we have to check the misuse of Chinese products by the younger generation. The product (Crezendo) might also affect society if its sale increases rapidly.”

In March this year, the state banned sex education in its schools following protests against the graphics and illustrations used in the course material provided under the adolescent education programme.

Vijayvargiya said the focus on condoms was alien to Indian culture where abstinence ought to be the basis for sex education. Abstinence, he said, was the only foolproof way to avoid sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy.