NCP leader Supriya Sule urged Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday to not attack women in the state. Sule’s comments come amid the ongoing drama surrounding actor Urfi Javed in recent weeks.
“We live in progressive Maharashtra,” said the Nationalist Congress Party legislator. Why should anyone specifically target women? Such behaviour is unbecoming of a civilised and cultured state. It is my sincere request to Fadnavis to intervene and put an end to this slugfest against women in the state,” she said.
Chitra Wagh, president of the BJP’s Women’s Wing, had raised serious concerns about Javed’s attire. Wagh had asked the state women’s commission to look into the matter and reprimand the actor for wearing ‘indecent clothing’. Javed retorted angrily, questioning Wagh’s right to moral policing.
The ongoing war of words on television has drawn harsh criticism from Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders (MVA). They have claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was targeting Javed unfairly.
Amid the debate, let’s take a look at the laws around obscenity in India:
Obscene is derived from the Latin word obscenus, which means foul, repulsive, or repulsive. Obscenity is a term used to describe words that are usually associated with sexual morality, but it is now used to describe images or actions that offend the majority of people. The term also has a significant legal context, explains a report by Legal Services India.
Section 294
Section 294 of Indian law deals with obscene acts, but it does not define what constitutes an obscene act. While Section 292 deals with the publication, sale, exhibition, and other obscene activities.
On the first conviction, the punishment is up to 2 years in prison and a fine of up to 2 thousand rupees, and on the second conviction, the punishment is 5 years in prison and a fine of 5 thousand rupees. There are also exceptions for publications that are justified by the public good, a genuine religious purpose, or engraving or painting on ancient monuments.
‘Obscene acts and songs’
Whoever, to the annoyance of others, commits any obscene act in any public place, or sings, recites, or utters any obscene song, ballad, or words in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either kind for a term not exceeding three months, or with a fine, or with both, the section says.
Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Section 20 of the Indian Post Office Act of 1898 prohibits the transmission by post of anything indecent, etc.
No one shall send by post any indecent or obscene printing, painting, photograph, lithograph, engraving, book or card, or any other indecent or obscene article, or any postal article containing words, marks, or designs of an indecent, obscene, seditious, scurrilous, threatening, or grossly offensive nature.
Section 67 of the Information Technology Act of 2000
This section deals with the punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
Whoever publishes, transmits, or causes to be published or transmitted in electronic form any material that is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest, or whose effect is such that it tends to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, taking all relevant circumstances into account, to read, see, or hear the matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to three years, the report explains.
Obscenity is a cognizable (a case in which a police officer cannot arrest the accused without an arrest warrant) and bailable offence. Any magistrate may take cognizance of such offences. Section 294 offences are also non-compoundable.
Who can file a complaint?
An aggrieved person is anyone who believes that the object on display, sold, or shared has the potential to corrupt the minds of those who come into contact with it. It is not necessary for the person to have come into contact with the obscene object.
Who can be charged?
The only person who is prosecuted is the person who displayed, shared, or sold the obscene material. Large social media companies are exempt from criminal liability if they were prompt in removing the content from their networking sites after receiving such information (Section 79 of Information Technology Act,2000).
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