Recently, a leader in Maharashtra appealed to the authorities to take action against actor Urfi Javed for “roaming the streets of Mumbai and exhibiting her body”.
Laws on obscenity
- Sections 292, 293 and 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deal with the offence of obscenity.
- Section 292 says that any content shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest, or if its effect tends to deprave and corrupt persons likely to read, see or hear the content. It prohibits the sale or publication of any obscene pamphlet, book, paper, painting, and other such materials.
- Section 293 criminalises the sale or distribution of obscene objects to anyone who is under the age of 20, or an attempt to do so. It is a bailable offence. The maximum punishment for the first conviction is three years of imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 2,000, and for the second conviction seven years with a fine up to Rs 5,000.
- Section 294 prohibits obscene acts and songs in public spaces. The maximum punishment for the person convicted under this charge is three-month jail and a fine.
- Section 67 of the Information Technology Act says that anyone who publishes or transmits obscene material in electronic form can be punished.
Hicklin test
- Named for Benjamin Hicklin, a 19th-century court recorder in London, England, the Hicklin Test is an obscenity standard that originated in an English case.
- The Hicklin Test was established in English Law after the case of Regina vs Hicklin (1868). According to it, a work can be considered obscene if any portion of it is found to “deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such influences”.
- Until 2014, the Indian judiciary used the Hicklin test to determine if something is obscene or not. The test was used by the Supreme Court to ban DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the case of Ranjit D Udeshi vs State Of Maharashtra (1964).
- In 2014, the Supreme Court did away with the Hicklin Test while hearing the case of Aveek Sarkar & Anr vs State Of West Bengal and Anr, which was regarding the publication of a semi-nude picture of Boris Becker and his fiancee.
