Can calling someone a ‘motherf****ker’ amount to obscenity? Supreme Court answers
The Indian Supreme Court ruled that using vulgar or abusive language does not constitute the criminal offense of obscenity unless it is lascivious or intended to corrupt. The court clarified that while such language is distasteful, it must meet specific legal thresholds to be considered obscene.
Why it matters
This ruling provides a clear legal distinction between offensive speech and criminal obscenity, protecting freedom of expression from being conflated with mere vulgarity.
The Supreme Court on Friday held that abusive language and vulgar expletives, however offensive or uncivil, will not amount to the offence of obscenity under criminal law unless they are lascivious, appeal to prurient interests and have the tendency to deprave or corrupt those exposed to them [Mani v. State]. .A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi made the observation while partly allowing the appeal of a man who was convicted for obscenity for using the words “motherf***ker”, “son of a wh*re” and other vulgar expletives during an altercation over a land dispute. “Let’s be clear, legally, obscenity is not synonymous with ‘vulgarity’, ‘abuse’ or ‘profanity’.
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