Rogues and vagabonds

ANYBODY seeking guidance on how to join the class of citizenry known as “rogues and vagabonds” need only look to Section 46 of the Summary Offences Act which sets out the many ways in which a person can join that select club.

Section 46 (g) in particular targets “any person who offers for sale or distribution or who exhibits to public view, any profane, indecent, or obscene book, paper, print, drawing, painting, or representation.” Such a person “may be deemed a rogue and vagabond, and shall be liable to imprisonment for two months.”

Additionally, anyone wanting guidance on how to become an “incorrigible rogue” – as opposed to an ordinary nine-to-five rogue – need only look to Section 47, which says any repeat offenders under Section 46 who resists or breaks out of custody “shall be deemed to be an incorrigible rogue, and shall be liable to imprisonment for six months.”

The Customs and Excise Division must clarify what its position is regarding these provisions. We need to get to the bottom of this matter. Certainly, several courier companies, sex toy retailers, and sexual health gurus are of the view that an import ban has been implemented on items that arguably fall under the class prohibited by Section 46 (g). According to them, the items at the top of the list are sex toys, a matter these people are not willing to take lying down.

“Sex toys are very high in demand in this country,” said the proprietor of an outlet called Santa’s Toys Trinidad last week. “A lot of people want to experiment and want a safe way to do so.” Sexologist Dr Raj Ramnanan, who operates a sex clinic that helps couples with sexual issues, said he intends to go all the way. To the Supreme Court that is. “What are people going to use? A baigan, a cucumber?” he asked.

The repercussions could be serious. Puritanical invocation of this law could raise a hard dilemma for law enforcement more generally. It should be observed that Section 46 (g) is not aimed at the act of importing sex toys. Rather, its wording refers only to sale, distribution or exhibition.

If the State has decided to enforce this archaic law, arguably it must do so in relation to the retailers at the point of sale. It cannot, through the Customs and Excise Division, stop the circulation of private property pre-emptively.

In any event, all of this is a reminder of why the State has no business being in anybody’s bedroom in the first place. The meaning of profane, indecent, or obscene is highly subjective. The State should be protecting citizens from objective harm, theft, and violence, not criminalising pleasure, policing sexuality and enforcing laws that bear no relationship with modern reality.