Women Dancing Provocatively in Short Skirts Isn’t Exactly Obscene: HC of Mumbai
The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench held that provocative dance by women in short skirts is not always obscene. It said that it would prefer to adopt a progressive stance on what constituted obscenity and that the police could not be trusted to define the word. The bench said that it was conscious of current moral standards and what kind of attire is seen appropriate and typical in the modern day.
A criminal case brought against five males for seeing “scantily dressed” ladies dancing at a party was recently dismissed by the Nagpur court. On October 11, a division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes annulled the FIR that had been filed in the Nagpur district.
“It would be backwards for us to have a restricted perspective of what behavior may be considered obscenity. The HC said in its ruling, “We prefer adopting a progressive stance in this situation and are hesitant to put such a choice in the hands of police officers.
The court stated: “The accused women’s actions, who were allegedly dancing provocatively or making obscene gestures while wearing short skirts, cannot be deemed to be per se obscene acts which could annoy any member of the public.”
In its order, the HC also stated that it is conscious of the general moral standards that govern Indian society today and that it “judicially notes the fact that in the present, it is quite common and acceptable that women may wear such clothing, or may be clad in swimming costumes or such other revealing attire.”
Such attire is often seen in movies or in beauty pageants. The Indian Penal Code’s Section 294 (obscene actions) prohibitions must not apply in this case, the High Court said.
The FIR states that on May 31, police conducted a search in the Umred neighborhood and discovered several males watching “scantily dressed women performing an obscene dance” and throwing fake cash to them. 18 people, including the ladies, were identified in the FIR. The defendant then requested that the matter be dismissed in a court motion.
