Mere Sight Of Woman's Naked Upper Body Is Not Obscenity, Says Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court pointed out the "hypocrisy" in treating the naked male body with a different yardstick than the female body.

The Kerala High Court on Monday underscored that the upper half naked body of a woman should not be deemed as sexual by default and raised questions regarding the difference in which semi-naked male and female bodies are viewed and treated by society. Justice Kauser Edappagath highlighted that nudity should not be deemed as sexual by default. He also pointed out that the nude female sculptures in temples and other places are considered holy and also as an art. 

"Nudity should not be tied to sex. The mere sight of the naked upper body of the woman should not be deemed to be sexual by default. So also, the depiction of the naked body of a woman cannot per se be termed to be obscene, indecent, or sexually explicit. The same can be determined to be so only in context," the Court said, reported Bar and Bench. 

The single-judge also referred to the protests by women in Kerala against the breast tax, or mulakkaram in British ruled India which involved a woman named Nangeli cutting off her breasts in protest.

“It is wrong to classify nudity as essentially obscene or even indecent or immoral. This is a State where women of certain lower castes had once fought for the right to cover their breasts,” the judge remarked as per the report. 

“We have murals, statues, and art of deities displayed in the seminude in ancient temples run all over the country. Such nude sculptures and paintings freely available in public spaces are considered art, even holy. Even though the idols of all Goddesses are bare-chested, when one prays at the temple, the feeling is not of sexual explicitness but of divinity," the Court said in its judgment.

The court pointed out the "hypocrisy" in treating the naked male body with a different yardstick than the female body. It also went on to surmise that women's bodies are inherently assumed obscene by those who consider women's bodies as one merely an object of desire, the report added. 

"When the half-nude body of a man is conceived as normal and not sexualised, a female body is not treated in the same way. Some people are so used to considering a woman’s naked body as an overly sexualised one or just an object of desire. There is another dimensional view about female nudity- that is, female nudity is taboo because a naked female body is only meant for erotic purposes,” it said.