The Supreme Court has quashed a criminal case of obscenity pending against the makers of web series ‘College Romance’.
The Bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice PS Narasimha on Tuesday set aside a Delhi High Court judgement, which refused to quash the obscenity case against the lead actors and makers of the web series.
Noting that vulgarity and profanities did not per se amount to obscenity, the Apex Court observed that the High Court, while analyzing and examining the language used in the web series, erred in construing the language as obscene to be punishable under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
It said while a person may find vulgar and expletive-filled language to be distasteful, unpalatable, uncivil, and improper, that by itself was not sufficient to be ‘obscene’.
Obscenity was related to material that aroused sexual and lustful thoughts, which was not at all the effect of the abusive language or profanities that have been employed in the episode.
Rather, such language may evoke disgust, revulsion, or shock. The reality of the High Court’s finding was that once it found the language to be profane and vulgar, it has in fact moved away from the requirements of obscenity under Section 67 of the IT Act. The High Court failed to notice the inherent contradiction in its conclusions, added the Bench.
The Judgment, authored by Justice Narasimha, further noted that when the use of such language was noticed in the context of the plot and theme of the web series, which was a light-hearted show on the college lives of young students, it was clear that the use of these terms was not related to sex and did not have any sexual connotation.
Neither did the creator of the web series intended for the language to be taken in its literal sense, nor was that the impact on a reasonable viewer who will watch the material.
Therefore, there was a clear error in the legal approach adopted by the High Court in analysing and examining the material to determine obscenity, it added.