LAW THROUGH THE LENS

YES you got it right, the man on the right is taking a piss; slow and relaxed as if there is no tomorrow. Why is the person on the left running?  Probably running away from the awful stench? 

Recently in India, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative of 'Swachh Bharat' campaign, India's Government Railway Police (GRP) of Agra sentenced nearly 109 people for 24 hours for urinating in public.  Urinating in public is an offence of nuisance under section 34 of the Police Act, 1861. While the law has certainly been there in the books all along, the important question is who will enforce it ? Should the citizens themselves be more vigilant and stop it when they observe people urinating in public? Interestingly as part of a psychological campaign, the City Corporation painted some walls near mosques in Arabic Text ( the text urging people not to urinate in front of the mosque wall), and apparently its working. People just don't want to urinate on the sacred Arabic text. Whatever works! An all-round concerted effort by law enforcing agency as well as public is necessary to stop this nuisance. Its high time we take some kind of initiative!  

Nabil Ahsan,Law desk contributor, is an amateur photographer and Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.