The Kerala High Court on Wednesday asked the Director General of Police to pay serious attention to 113 cases registered by the state police against indecent representation of women in advertisements and films.
Disposing of a petition filed by Saju Pulluvazhy of Rayamangalam in Ernakulam, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinod Chandran directed the DGP and the State Government to act according to the provisions mandated in the Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act-1986.
The court held that the Act should be implemented in letter and spirit. “There is truth in the contention of the petitioner that there was laxity on the part of the implementing agency.
The government had issued a circular in 2012 and the agency has failed to implement the provisions of the enactment in its letter and spirit,” the Court observed.
According to the petitioner, the Act imposed a ban on advertisements which represented women indecently. It also prohibited the publication and circulation of books and pamphlets containing such representations.
He said that advertisements of textile shops, jewellery, and films carried indecent pictures of women in violation of the Act.
Though the police were bound to prevent a cognisable offence under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Police Act, they allowed the culprits to go scot-free. He alleged that a ‘vulgar dance’ was performed on December 5, 2011, in connection with the inaugural function of a textile shop in Kochi city.
The policemen who were present there did nothing to stop the violation of the Act. The petitioner had filed a complaint before the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate in this regard and a case was registered.
Police officials in their counter-affidavit stated that 113 cases have been so far registered in different districts in the state under the Act. In Thiruvananthapuram district alone 34 cases have been registered, the police added.