Kites are Aeroplanes: India and Her Strange Laws

India still has some laws that are strange enough to make you wonder why they exist at all.

The BJP-led government is considering repealing hundreds of laws and acts that are thought to be archaic, useless and irrelevant. They’ve started with 90 such laws and begun the process in parliament to get them repealed . You can check the list here.

But there are still some shocking rules that the government has missed out completely from this list and which should be removed or amended too.

The implications of these weird laws are quite astonishing.

Read on and be amazed.

1. Kites and Balloons are aircraft

Yup, you read that correctly. A kite is defined as an ‘aircraft’ according to the Indian Aircraft Act of 1934.

So theoretically, for a young child to enjoy flying a kite he or she would need the same permissions, and need to go through the same paperwork to fly an aircraft. Forget asking why this definition hasn’t been changed, more importantly, why was a kite defined as an aircraft in the first place?

And don’t think you can get away with balloons. Apparently, they’re aircraft too. Whether they’re“fixed or free” to float in the air.

2. No more than 10 couples on the dance floor please

This is thanks to the Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act, 1911. According to this law you can’t gather in a large crowd if it causes a public nuisance. What’s too large a crowd is up to a government official’s discretion.

3. When it comes to adultery, Indian men are screwed

Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalizes adultery in a warped way. It makes it an offence for a man to have sexual relations  with a married woman, and it can land him in prison for up to 5 years if he does. But if he decides to have an affair with an unmarried woman, then there’s no problem.

Also, because adulterous women are not mentioned in the law, they can, technically,  go scot-free.

4. How you define obscenity is up to one’s imagination

Section 294 of the IPC punishes anyone for committing an obscene act or singing an obscene song in public. But what can be considered obscene is left to your imagination. Free speech has come under the hammer because of this rule. The organisers of the ‘AIB Roast’ in Mumbai, Honey Singh for his lyrics, are a few who’ve been harassed and taken to court because of this law.

5. Delhi men have to fight locusts when ordered to

Hear ye all men of Delhi, according to the 1949 East Punjab Agricultural Pests, Diseases and Noxious Weeds Act, any man who is above the age of 14 and considered fit, can be ordered to fight locusts when ordered by the government. Also, believe it or not, the act states that the government can summon you by the banging of a drum.

So next time you hear the beat of a drum, don’t pass it off as a wedding baraat, it could be a call to arms...against locusts of course.

So what’s to be done ?

The Business Standard reports that the government is planning to introduce the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015, in Parliament. This is expected to have a  more thorough list of laws to repeal and amend.

Let’s hope that the above mentioned laws are in that list.