Can’t stop men from peeing in public: HC

A fortnight ago, the Delhi High Court found itself up against a wall – discoloured by years of socio cultural practice – and had no choice but to climb down.

New Delhi resident Manoj Sharma had filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court to check the practice of men urinating on the outer walls of his residential complex. However, on March 26, the court dismissed his petition to prohibit public

SURELY THIS COURT CANNOT MAKE A MAN WALK OUT OF HIS HOUSE WITH HIS ZIP LOCKED

HIGH COURT urination, saying any solution it may support could be implemented in a “clumsy way”. “Surely this court cannot make a man walk out of his house with his zip locked,” said the division bench of justice Pradeep Nadrajog and justice Deepa Sharma.

In his petition, Sharma had told the court that the other residents of his society had grown so tired of their boundary walls being treated like public urinals that they had tried several self innovative checks before they knocked at the court’s door.

To begin with, they posted pictures of gods and goddesses on the walls, hoping men would not “dare to bare their privates in front of the Lord”.

When this didn’t work, Sharma and others painted dogs and donkeys on the walls along with written messages comparing those who excrete in public to these animals. The photographs annexed to the writ petition showed the Indian male’s determination not to be swayed from the task at hand – be it gods or dogs looking on. The court too threw up its arms for the moment. “The menace of urinating in public will have to be solved elsewhere,” it said.

So, at least, for now, Indian men can continue with their great Indian habit of relieving themselves wherever they wish to.