News media in India has often resorted to citations of Kamasutra and Khajuraho. They have evoked them to underscore the diversity of carnal practices that have existed in this region. Literary prescriptions have celebrated contortions of erotic bodies that may seem grotesque. Sculptural surrealisms have engaged with coital exaggerations as well.

These facts of history have succeeded to fight the ‘conservatives’ in India who take offence at the remotest reference to penis, vagina, mouth, breast, finger or anus. News media has fought a spirited battle against Section 377 and the prohibitive principle which underlines it – “unnatural sex” – by citing Kamasutra and Khajuraho among others. Yet when it comes to the bodies of elected leaders, particularly those from the rural areas, a Victorian morality grips it.

Recorded videos of phallic gyrations and pelvic thrusts invite unanimous condemnation and calls for disciplining them. It is articulated in the unequivocal language of “chee” and “aiyyo” or the more contemporary “yuck” and “eww”.

So what did Shyam Bahadur Singh, Member of Legilative Assmebly from Barharia in Bihar, do to become the proverbial ‘dirty old man’? He gyrated and thrust at professional dancers on stage.

Following are highlights of judgments passed in the English media. The choice of qualifiers to describe the event and its participants will be of interest to any student of news.

Firstpost: “The comical sight of a Janata Dal (U) legislator from Barhariya in Siwan district, Shyam Bahadur Singh, awkwardly dancing a suggestive jig with nautch girls only goes to reaffirm a stereotype about Bihar – that it is a state with acute poverty of culture and a lumpenised legacy of politics.”

Firstpost: “… found himself in yet another soup on Sunday as a fairly incriminating video footage emerged on the World Wide Web. Said footage appears to depict the MLA gyrating oddly, pushing women around and prancing around in a manner that can be described as ‘lewd’ and ‘lascivious’.”

News18: “The video shows the JD (U) MLA not only dancing with the bar girls but also seen making objectionable gestures.”

The Financial Express: “The video shows JD (U) MLA from Barharia constituency in district Siwan, Shyam Bahadur Singh, dancing with the girls and making objectionable gestures.”

The Hindu: “Ruling party JD (U) MLA Shyam Bahadur Singh has again been caught on camera gyrating to music with bar girls at a function in Siwan.”

The Indian Express: “…Shyam Bahadur Singh is seen dancing with girls and making objectionable gestures.”

The Times of India: “Different videos, showing Singh with different nautch girls, appeared on social media and some news channel on at least four occasions during the last four years”

Times Now: “… how can a Chief Minister like Nitish Kumar who portrays a no nonsense image tolerate a show of vulgarity by one of his own MLAs.”

The extracts make a mockery of democratic ethics. The news media has vigorously pursued the twin principles of subjectivity and difference in other cases – advocacy campaigns for LGBTQ rights, for instance. But it chose to abandon them in the case of Shyam Bahadur Singh. The news media wanted to overlook the right to sensual pleasure of a sexagenarian politician from the countryside. Hence words and phrases like –“comical, awkwardly, acute poverty of culture, lumpenised legacy of politics, objectionable, incriminating.”

Perhaps the gyrations and thrusts of Shyam Bahadur Singh are ‘comical’ and ‘awkward’ because they are not in sync with the smoother rhythms of Bollywood-Hollywood. But does that mark ‘acute poverty of culture’ or ‘lumpenised legacy of politics’? Not necessarily. Also, Shyam Bahadur Singh did nothing ‘objectionable’ or ‘incriminating’. There is no proof that the old man was drunk in the dry state of Bihar. So, those who have assumed the role of moral police and derided him will have to apply the same standards to judge dirty dancing everywhere else. Shyam Bahadur Singh danced with two professional dancers and responded to their physical invitations. What is less consensual and therefore, less legal about it?

If somebody has to be accused for ‘acute poverty of culture’ in the Shyam Bahadur Singh versus news media episode, then the latter has risked the pole position. ‘Nautch girls’ and ‘bar girls’ are inappropriate descriptions of women who, from what can be made out from the video, are professional dancers. The colonial term ‘nautch girls’ was used to describe women who sold entertainment to a male clientele through song and dance. The term had a pejorative connotation since it was generally held that these women were available for sex.

Yes, the women in the video perform raunchily. But does that mean that raunchy performers are nautch girls, that is, women who are also available for sex? Surely, the matter needed verification before generalisation. Moreover, if Bihar is a dry state then where did the ‘bar girls’ come from? Were they ‘bar girls’ at all or just professional dancers? Unfortunately, none of these questions will be answered because nobody went to the ground to find out. Actually, nobody should have gone since it was not news and there was little to report. So lazy scribes sat at their laptops and served their opinions on public morality.

However, what raises concern about Shyam Bahadur Singh and his dirty dancing is another video. Only The Financial Express has mentioned it. But it has taken its own warning about the video – “watch at your own risk” – too seriously and has not watched it. If it had had then it would have been able to make a case against the MLA.

In the last quarter of this video, Shyam Bahadur Singh lays on the female dancer, rolls over her and then tries to tie his ‘gamcha’ to her leg. She smilingly resists and the MLA lets go. Such behaviour can raise questions since an unwanted touch has legal consequences. This is why there is a strict code against touching in most raunchy performances.

But the noise culture in the news media has ensured that nuance in thinking and reporting is replaced by reaction.Complexities that make an event will forever remain unaddressed.