Mere use of abusive language doesn't amount to obscenity in law: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has clarified that simply using abusive, insulting, or offensive language does not, by itself, amount to the offence of obscenity under Section
The Supreme Court has clarified that simply using abusive, insulting, or offensive language does not, by itself, amount to the offence of obscenity under Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court explained that there is a distinction between oral expressions that are rude or offensive and words that are legally obscene. A Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul Pancholi observed that a word can be considered obscene only if it is sexually explicit, arouses sexual desires, or has the tendency to deprave or corrupt susceptible minds.
Read Full Story The observations came during the hearing on an appeal in a criminal case stemming from a land dispute in Tamil Nadu. The appellant, a 70-year-old man, was convicted by the trial court of obscenity after he was found guilty of using an expletive involving the complainant's mother. The Supreme Court, however, set aside that particular finding and held that using abusive language does not automatically amount to obscenity. It emphasised that offensive language and obscenity are distinct legal concepts, and that even an insult directed at someone's mother does not necessarily constitute the offence of obscenity in every case.
The two-member Bench noted that abusive language may provoke anger or disgust, but not every offensive or vulgar expression qualifies as "obscene" in the eyes of the law. The incident at the centre of the case occurred in August 2017, during a confrontation over the ownership of a piece of land. According to the complainant, the appellant hurled abuse and caste-based slurs at him before attacking him with a weapon and fracturing his nose as a result. While the Supreme Court acquitted the appellant on charges relating to obscenity and criminal intimidation, it upheld his conviction for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Taking into consideration the senior citizen's age and his overall health condition, the Bench also reduced his sentence to imprisonment "till the rising of the court." It further directed him to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 within a period of two months. Ends
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