Laws Relating to Obscenity and Indecent Representation of Women

Decency varies from place to place, person to person. With the progress of the society and change in the lifestyle of the people, standard of propriety etc. keep on changing. So with the passage of time, the meaning of decency kept on changing, the degree of morality and decency also took a new look. The 21st century is known as the age of the information and scientific development. In the traditional society exposure of women through advertising, painting, publications or otherwise was not accepted but today it has become a fashion. In the present era, Women, instead of being portrayed as sex objects or glam dolls should be projected in a proactive and empowered manner, which can have maximum impact on the society and bring about an attitudinal/ behavioral change among people towards women. The Indian Constitution in its Preamble, not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws, development policies, plans and programmers have aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. India has also enacted various laws to secure equal rights of women. The Indian Penal Code in Section 292, 293, and 294 IPC mentions laws to curb obscenity. In spite of all these provisions, there is growing indecent representation of women or references to women publications, particularly in advertisements which have the effect of denigrating women and are derogatory to women. Therefore the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 was legislated to effectively prohibit indecent representation of women through any publication, media or advertisement. This paper attempts to discuss laws relating to obscenity & indecent representation of women. The research paper concludes with suggestions through with the problem can be dealt with in an efficient way. My paper would emphasize on the following point.