[Book Launch] Obscenity: Prevention, Law and Practice by Saurabh Bindal

A book on ‘Obscenity: Prevention, Law and Practice’, authored by Fox Mandal Partner Saurabh Bindal was launched recently at New Delhi, in an event that drew the presence of Delhi High Court judges, senior lawyers and journalists.

The book was released on September 14 by Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the Delhi High Court, who was the Chief Guest for the launch event.

The launch was also attended by Justice Prathiba M Singh of the Delhi High Court, Senior Advocates Sidharth Luthra and Nitya Ramakrishnan and journalists Puja Talwar and Anusha Soni.

The book has been published by the Eastern Book Company and is the eighth book written by Bindal.

It aims to provide a detailed analysis of intersection of obscenity laws with other Indian procedural and substantive laws. It touches upon the interplay of intellectual property law and obscenity law.

The book's release was followed by a panel discussion on "Obscenity in a Digital and Globalised World: Freedoms and Fetters.”

Sharing her views on the subject, Justice Prathiba M Singh said,

”Why should obscenity be viewed from a woman’s perspective only? It can be viewed from various perspectives. Obscenity has multidimensional views.”

Adding to this perspective, Justice Rajiv Shakdher said,

"The social views of judges play an important role when deciding cases relating to obscenity. The difficulty the judges face is how to apply the tests to certain facts ... Vulgarity is not always the test for obsceneness. Everything that is vulgar is not always obscene.

On the question of whether there is a line in law on what is obscene in public and private, Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan said,

"There is a need to first determine what is public and what is private... Where expression is under control, when definitions are hard to describe, there is a tendency to abuse expressions. It is time to reconsider how we regulate... Elusiveness of the term obscenity is static.”

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra added that, "Community standard test varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. What is appropriate and inappropriate, varies now.”

Puja Talwar weighed in by noting that, “Social media is an untamable beast... Everything that is vulgar is not obscene, it depends on how you are consuming it.”

Concluding the panel discussion, Anusha Soni remarked, "Social media is a multi-edged sword, what is normal for some is not normal for others."