3 Things What counts as 'obscene', lab-grown babies, and plastic into garden tiles
Feb 14, 2025
Ajoy Sinha Karpuram, a reporter at The Indian Express, provides insights into India's evolving obscenity laws, prompted by recent legal controversies. He discusses how cultural standards shape these laws. Aditi Raja, also from The Indian Express, shares a fascinating story about a Gujarat municipality's initiative to recycle 6,000 kilos of plastic into eco-friendly garden tiles, showcasing sustainable urban innovation. The episodes feature intriguing topics such as lab-grown babies and their ethical implications, creating a dialogue on future reproductive technologies.
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Defining Obscenity
- Obscenity's legal definition under Section 294 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita is broad, focusing on lascivious or prurient interest.
- This targets overtly sexual content, aiming to curb material that is sexual for its own sake, not gore or other disturbing content.
Subjectivity of Obscenity
- Defining obscenity is inherently subjective, often boiling down to a judge's personal opinion.
- A US Supreme Court case highlighted this with Justice Potter Stewart's famous "I know it when I see it" remark regarding pornography.
Early Obscenity Case
- Author Edmund Curl faced prosecution in the 1720s for his erotic literature, though obscenity laws didn't exist yet.
- This marked one of the earliest instances of legal action against allegedly obscene publications, leading to libel charges.