Caution against shaming

Caution against shaming

Article:

1. Devika, Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram analysis the Kerala High Court judgment on obscenity

Important Analysis:

2. The Kerala High Court recently gave its judgment against the writ petition claiming the image of a breastfeeding women on magazine as obscene.

3. The magazines named ‘Grihalakshmi’, leading women’s magazine in Malayalam publish this image on its cover page in March this year.

4. The social conservatives  from Kerala considered it to obscene, insulting women, and in violation of child rights.

5. However, the defendants considered this image from positive angle  and put forward the following arguments in this regard:

• Defendants considered image as essentially non-sexual and against obscenity.
• They considered it to be more related to developmental concerns such as maternal and child health.
• Defendants considered this image as a depletion of pleasure in the mother-child physical bond.

6. High Court’s judgment:

• The court dismissed the writ petition claiming image to be obscene.
• The court mobilize ‘Ancient Indian Culture’ to support its arguments.
• It clearly distinguishes legal paternalism from legal moralism and warns against the same. This is truly valuable after recent Hadiya case in which self-chosen marriages was annulled by the HC.

7. Implications of Judgment:

• The judgment is especially significant for Kerala where social conservatism has historically stayed unchallenged.

Note:

• Historically, many battles were fought in Malayali Society for the early twentieth century over the exposure of upper body.
• While the rules of cast differences and deference required that the chest, female and male, from social inferior background be exposed in the presence of ostensible social superiors.