Dilip D’Souza

A few months after the 9/11 attacks, I attended a press conference of some kind in Mumbai, I can’t remember what. Towards the end, an intrepid journalist put up his hand and yelled: “They are displaying posters of Osama bin Laden! When are you going to arrest them?”

I wasn’t sure who he meant by ‘they’, nor even who he meant by ‘you’ — the conference had been called by two retired judges — but I was intrigued by this demand. So, when I got a chance, I made my way through the room to his side and asked: “What do you want them arrested for, again?”

“For displaying posters of Osama!”

“Got it,” I said. I had heard him correctly the first time. “But tell me, what’s the crime here?”

“Displaying Osama’s posters!” he spluttered.

“But what’s the crime in that?”

Unable to splutter any more, he looked at me, bewildered and incredulous that someone might actually challenge his demand.

“There’s a law!” he said finally. “Give me your number. I’ll call you tomorrow with what it is, exactly.”

I gave him my number and made sure to take his as well. A few days later, there was nothing from him, so I called. He repeated his promise to tell me ‘tomorrow’. As you can guess, most of 17 years later, he hasn’t called.

Why? Because there is no such law. There is no law against displaying a poster of anyone, Osama included. I mean, I’m sure the man finds Osama and/or his images repellent — so do I — but not even such dista