Lingerie-clad mannequins will soon be extinct from Mumbai city. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed a ban on 'barely clad' mannequins at Mumbai's shops, malls, fashion establishments and entertainment centres, a move which they say will reduce sexual violence against women.
The proposal, by the Shiv Sena-led BMC, was provisionally cleared on Tuesday. The BMC has also threatened hawkers and shopkeepers with dire consequences if they continue to display such mannequins clad in scanty ladies' lingerie.
The proposal was presented by Shiv Sena Corporator Ritu Tawade last month, and received instant support from members of the ruling parties, Shiv Sena and BJP. Sunil Prabhu of Shiv Sena, who is the current mayor of Mumbai, has endorsed the proposal saying he has always appreciated women corporators who raise 'sensitive issues boldly in the house'. According to Shiv Sena's statement to the media, such barely-clad mannequins lead to 'men ogling at them'.
According to the statement issued by Ritu Tawade to the media, she first proposed the idea, as "Bikini-clad mannequins put on display only lead to men and boys indulge in dirty thinking and wrong acts." She has also propped up her proposal against the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 according to a Deccan Herald report.
The proposal has been sent to BMC's commissioner Sitaram Kunte by the general body of the BMC, consisting of 227 corporators from across parties. Sitaram Kunte will have the final word on the proposal, which has little chance of deviation from the current proposal. And, if the proposal gets cleared, the city will be devoid of its revealing mannequins, which are supposedly triggering men to commit sexual assault on women and girls.
Mumbai is a city from where the second-largest number of rape cases in the country is reported, according to statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau.
