Obscenity Laws In India and U.S: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The core part of freedom of expression lies in the capacity to imagine and converse unreservedly and to obtain knowledge from others in the course of various publication and civic discussion without any fear of punishment, limitation or suppression by the government. It is through freedom of expression that populace strengthens their morality and helps others to become moral and enlightened citizen. Derived from the Latin word ‘obscaenus’, obscenity can defined as any remark, comment or action that robustly offends the established integrity of time. As a legal term it refers to graphic depiction of people engaged in erotic & excretory activity. “Obscenity is a function of culture- a function in the mathematical sense, I mean, its value changing with that of the variables on which it depends”. Indecency is one term that is confused with obscenity, indecency includes anything that would be disgusting and revolting in the eyes of a decent man or women, indecency is a wider concept than obscenity, i.e. something, if it is obscene has to be indecent but indecency may be something which may not be obscene always, in the sense of tendency to corrupt the mind of the reader. In case the court succeeds in acknowledging the indicative function of obscene, it must then say that this type of communication is without constitutional value.