Moral Authority Without Legal Power: Cultural Vigilantism and the Constitutional Boundaries of Public Intimacy in India
Keywords:
Constitutional Morality, Cultural Vigilantism, Moral Policing, Public Intimacy, Article 19; Article 21; Right to Privacy, Dignity; Personal Liberty, Freedom of Expression, Heckler’s Veto; Obscenity Law, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Public Order, Transformative Constitutionalism, Gendered Surveillance, Caste Endogamy, Rule of Law, Non-State Actors, Constitutional SupremacyAbstract
Cultural vigilantism in contemporary India represents a structural constitutional crisis rather than isolated law-and-order disturbances. Self-appointed actors increasingly intervene in matters of public intimacy, artistic expression, and relational autonomy, invoking “Indian culture” as justification. These interventions, often coercive and humiliating, operate outside statutory authority yet exert tangible regulatory power over citizens. This paper argues that such vigilantism constitutes an extra-legal assertion of sovereignty that directly undermines Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Drawing upon constitutional jurisprudence, sociological analysis, and empirical indicators, this study demonstrates that moral policing is not cultural protection but constitutional subversion. The struggle over public intimacy is, ultimately, a struggle over constitutional supremacy.
