Kerala HC Refuses To Declare ‘Breastfeeding Woman On Magazine’s Cover’ As Obscene
In what has come as a relief for Malayalam magazine Grihalakshmi, the Kerala High Court has recently refused to categorise its cover of a woman breastfeeding a baby as obscene.
The court noted that “shocking one’s morals” is an “elusive concept”, and that “one man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric”.
Legal affairs site Livelaw.in reports that the first bench comprising then Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu observed, “We do not see, despite our best efforts, obscenity in the picture, nor do we find anything objectionable in the caption, for men. We looked at the picture with the same eyes we look at the paintings of artists like Raja Ravi Varma. As the beauty lie in the beholder’s eye, so does obscenity perhaps.”
They also observed that even the sections charged by the petitioner Felix, fail to convince them that the magazine committed any offence that affected the “society’s moral fabric”.
Dismissing the petition, the High Court ruled, “Going by the contemporary community standards and without troubling ourselves with patent offensiveness—we may observe that, given the picture’s particular posture and its background setting (mother feeding the baby), as depicted in the magazine, it is not prurient or obscene; nor even suggestive of it. We, therefore, dismiss the writ petition.”
According to reports by the Livelaw.in, the petitioner, Felix MA had contended that the magazine cover violated provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Rules, as well as Section 45 of the Juvenile Justice Act. He had also alleged violation of provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (prohibition) Act, 1986 and Article 39(e) and (f) of the constitution of India.
The March 2018 issue of Grihalakshmi magazine cover carried an image of a woman breastfeeding a baby for a campaign for open breastfeeding.
This sparked an outrage leading to a case being filed at the Court of Judicial Magistrate in Kollam by advocate Vinod Mathew against the publishers and the model Gilu Joseph, who was on the cover.
Another advocate, Jiyas Jamal from Aluva, lodged a complaint with the State Child Rights Commission against Gilu, the publishers of Grihalakshmi and the parents of the baby who was featured.
“The March 2018 issue of Mathrubhumi Grihalakshmi, in its cover, uses a newborn baby to create a picture of a breastfeeding mother. An unmarried Jilu Joseph, who is an advertisement model, has posed as the mother who is breastfeeding the baby in the cover photo of the magazine. The model’s breast which is bereft of milk is stuffed into the child’s mouth and this is how the photo is captured. In this manner, the baby’s health and rights have been exploited. Using the child for commercial purposes is indeed a grave issue. Such incidents which attempt to commercialise motherhood and breastfeeding put the rights of newborn babies in danger. The cover, which tricked the baby into thinking that it the model is its mother and that it will get milk is an embarrassment to our society as a whole,” the complaint read.
courtesy : thenewsminute.com
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Atishi to be sworn in as Delhi chief minister on Saturday
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Minister-designate Atishi will be sworn in along with her new Council of Ministers during a ceremony at the Raj Niwas on Saturday afternoon that will see AAP form the government in Delhi for the fourth time in a row.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi will take the oath of office at 4.30 pm, officials have said.
The new Council of Ministers announced by the party comprises Sultanpur Majra MLA Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant, besides ministers Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain.
Atishi will be the 17th female chief minister of the country.
The officials at the lieutenant governor's office on Friday evening said President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Atishi as the chief minister of Delhi from the date of her being sworn in and has also accepted Arvind Kejriwal's resignation.
The President has also cleared the appointment of five ministers, they added.
According to an AAP leader, the ceremony will be a low-key affair as the mood in the party is not upbeat because of Kejriwal's resignation and also the delays in approvals, leaving little time for preparations.
AAP MLAs met earlier this week and unanimously chose Atishi as the leader of the ruling legislature party.
The party's national convener Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar jail on September 13, after more than five months behind bars in an excise policy case.
In a surprise announcement two days later, Kejriwal said he would resign from the post of the chief minister of Delhi in the wake of the BJP's "mudslinging" against him over corruption.
Kejriwal also announced that he would return to the post only after getting a "certificate of honesty" from Delhi people in the assembly polls.
The tenure of the Atishi government will be brief as the assembly polls in Delhi are due in February next year.
Her government will have to fast-track and give nod to various pending policies and welfare schemes such as the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0 and doorstep delivery of services among others.
In the outgoing Kejriwal government, Atishi held 13 portfolios, including finance, revenue, PWD, power and education.
Rai was in charge of the environment, development and general administration departments, while Bharadwaj looked after the health, tourism and urban development departments among others.
Gahlot held the responsibility of transport, home and women and child development departments, while Hussain was the minister for food and supplies.
AAP sources said the four ministers retained in the new Cabinet are likely to hold their previous portfolios while Ahlawat could be allotted those lying vacant following the resignation of minister Raaj Kumar Anand in April this year.
