Watch: These Puppets Have Something to Tell You About Consent

Keeping alive the tradition of delivering social messages through kathputlis, we get them to explain consent.

Indian puppets explain consent.

(Photo: The Quint)

(This story was first published on 22 November 2017. It has been republished from The Quint’s archives in light of the Supreme Court asking a rape accused if he will marry the survivor.)

Legal Inputs: Vakasha Sachdev

Puppeteer: Rohit Dholi and Raj Kumar Bhat

Multimedia Producer and Video Editor: Kunal Mehra

Cameraperson: Abhay Sharma, Athar Rathar

For long kathputli, a theatre form native to Rajasthan – which makes use of string puppets to provide authentic, homegrown entertainment – has been used to drive home important social messages. Here, it’s being used as a potent tool to talk about consent to Indian audiences in the digital age.

Because we can’t afford to be ignorant – or claim ignorance – about the word.

Before we proceed, here is a quick refresher course on consent:

1. Consent has to be unequivocal
2. It has to be taken for each specific sexual act.
3. A marriage certificate doesn’t automatically mean a lifetime of consent.
4. No. Means. No.
5. Even if gotten earlier, consent can at any time be revoked.
6. A drunk ‘yes’ may not always mean a ‘yes’.

And the final one: A lack of sexual consent is rape.