Can a lingerie-clad mannequin, standing outside the showrooms of the shops and posh malls excite someone to pounce on a woman and rape her?

Except few perverts and psychologically ill men, one doesn’t see an average Indian man break out in sweat or become uncomfortable while passing by those scantily clad plastic dolls. But according to Ritu Tawade, a member of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation – mannequins, especially the ones clad in bikinis, do have an adverse im­pact on the mindset of perverts leading to increase in the incidence of crimes against women! Therefore, she has proposed a ban on manne­q­u­ins.

It seems that people who have been appointed to maintain law and order situation are focussing more on moral policing.

“In a patriarchal society, the proposal should not sound odd. Time and again our leaders have been playing the blame game without eradicating the main cause of the problem i.e. the change in the mindset of men.

“We have to especially overcome the duality in our lives,” says sociolog­i­st Indu Prakash, who is also heads the City Makers Programme, an Indo Global Social Service Society .

“What’s a dress got to do anything with provocation? It is not possible that something that provokes a man will incite all men. Only perverts can be provoked by plastic dolls,” he says and calls it an, “outlandish move that shows fall of the society but not the fall of moral values.”

Supporting Indu’s view is Rajesh Talwar, a hosiery shopkeeper in Karol Bagh, “It makes no sense banning mannequins.

“There are other ways to get provoked – like displays on internet sites, lingerie ads on front pages of newspapers and magazines and so on. It simply shows the narrow mindset of the people who promise law and order.”

The proposal has been opposed by people from different walks of life. There has been strong opposition from the Bollywood celebrities on social networking sites as well. Director Shirish Kunder tweets “Whoever finds the bikini-clad mannequin sexually provocative, must definitely find the naked street dogs even more provocative.” 

Annoyed with the move Arshad Warsi tweets “I can’t get over the BMC blaming female mannequin for increase in rape cases in India. Regressive bunch of a******s are making rules.”

Photographer Atul Kasbekar tongue-firmly-in-cheek tweets, “I’m so relieved that sex crimes will soon be a thing of the past thanks to the BMC sorting out the root cause. Removing lingerie clad mannequins. Yay!”

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar isn’t far behind, “Breaking News: Mannequin wearing lingerie receive death threats from Dummies. Motive incomprehensible.”

“I have never been aroused by a mannequin. Maybe our corporators are,” tweets dire­c­tor Pritish Nandy.

In an interview given to an international news agency, Viren Shah Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) says, “Elected representatives, instead of moral policing and putting restrictions on our display on mannequin, should spend time on educating people on sex crimes and the improving mental state of those who pass filthy remarks on women.”