The Supreme Court in India did away with a 158-year-old law that criminalised a man having an affair with a married woman.
There is a difficulty in getting data on how many were prosecuted under this law, though the figure, one assumes, wouldn’t be that large. The decriminalisation of homosexuality in India this year, on the other hand, would have more actual repercussions.
In any case, when reporting on this issue, Jang Karachi edition’s front page read, “bharat mein bagher shaadi azdawaji ta’aluqaat jaa’iz qarar de diye gaye.”
This literally translates as “marital relations without marriage legal now.”
Which is a bit of a non-sequitur, noted Mubashir Ali Zaidi, employed by the same media group, but over at Geo, who has also acquired a recent bit of fame on social media for his brief “100 lafzon ki kahani.”
How can you have izdawaji ta’aluqat if you are not married, he asked rhetorically. The fellow knew perfectly well, of course. Middle-class morality in Urdu requires euphemisms for sex. And izdawaji ta’aluq (marital relations) is acceptable, though I suppose even this would make prudish grandmothers blush.
Zaidi quips, maybe the sub-editor was shy of writing jinsi ta’aluqaat (sexual relations). Further observing that jinsi aur agency likhna manaa hai.
True, can’t mention jinsi or agency in the Pakistani news media.
