Key Points
New Delhi:Raising questions over patriarchal stereotypes regarding a womans nude body, the Kerala High Court Monday said that nudity and obscenity are not always synonymous as it discharged a womens rights activist in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case involving her two kids.. Justice Kauser Edappagath in his 28-page order said: It is wrong to classify nudity as essentially obscene or even indecent or immoral While the autonomy of a male body is seldom questioned, the autonomy of women is under constant threat of patriarchal structure Female nudity is seen as a taboo because a naked female body is only meant for erotic purposes...
The woman posted videos on her social media platforms in June 2020 which showed her two minor children 14-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl painting on her semi-nude torso...
The judge held that painting on the naked upper body of a person, whether a man or a woman, cannot be stated to be a sexually explicit act, particularly in the case at hand, since the message that accompanied the video clearly mentioned that body painting was done as an artistic form of protest against sexualised portrayal of the naked upper body of a woman.. The social activists video, the judge said, intended to expose this double standard prevailing in society and also educate her children to consider a nude body as more than just a sexual object...
Here is a case where a mother who tried to challenge patriarchal stereotypes and spread a message that there needs to be nothing sexual or offensive about the naked female body by letting her kids be exposed to her semi-nude body was saddled with criminal prosecution alleging that she exploited her own children for sexual gratification..
The judge observed: Painting on the upper body of a mother by her own children as an art project cannot be characterised as a real or simulated sexual act, nor can it be said that the same was done for the purpose of sexual gratification or with sexual intent...
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