I don't know yaar. Why do people keep getting into this shit again and again?

For those who don't know why Rashmi Bansal had to go underground, here are the basic facts.

Seems on World AIDS Day, JAM magazine published some illustrations or images of BR Ambedkar and a shivling among others, and there were some punchlines / captions for them. Apparently it offended some busybody. And now the Mumbai police is after her, and she has gone underground which is all one can do once you get into trouble with the law in India.

Anyway, I can understand the support offered to her by the blogosphere. They are generally champions of free speech, and can be counted upon to support each other in times of crisis.

What I do not understand is, which country does Rashmi think she lives in? Netherlands? USA?

It takes remarkable naivety to poke fun at a shivling in India. However well intentioned it may be. Forget the law - this is India, people are getting more and sensitive about any kind of perceived insult, and you can easily come to physical harm for such stuff. And BR Ambedkar? There are many sacred cows in India, and you touch them at your own risk. If Rashmi (probably not her, someone else in the magazine might have been actually responsible) thought that this was OK, then it is simple naivety. And naivety gets its butt kicked regularly nowadays.

And then you have the strange ways in which Indian law is implemented. If someone files a complaint and the police arrests you, and then releases you, it is normal The funda is, get arrested, and then get bail and get released. What the..? I would think that the logical thing you would be for an investigation to be conducted, interviews with the accused as in the US, and then a court case and trial. What is the purpose of the arrest? So the typical response of everyone including corporate czars and media people is to run and hide till they can secure bail. Nuts.