A Malayalam magazine named Grihalakshmi showcased a female nursing (breastfeeding) an infant on its cover page and the slogan along with the image reads: “Moms tell Kerala — don’t stare, we want to breastfeed.”
Whilst a few people described it as a daring move, others named it a trick to fascinate eyeballs, however, a gentleman named Felix M.A. sensed it was neither.
According to the reports, Felix M.A. went ahead and lodged a case against the periodical, claiming the mag cover disrupted provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Rules; Section 45 of the Juvenile Justice Act; the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, and Article 39(e) and (f) of the Constitution of India.
However, the Kerala High Court discarded the case lodged. The bench including Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu discarded the case and they also stated that “shocking one’s morals” is an “elusive concept”, and that “one man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric.”
They carried on by stating, “We do not see, despite our best efforts, obscenity in the picture, nor do we find anything objectionable in the caption, for men. We looked at the picture with the same eyes we look at the paintings of artists like Raja Ravi Varma. As the beauty lies in the beholder’s eye, so does obscenity, perhaps….”
The most popular small screen actress Divyanka Tripathi also came forward to support this subject.
“I stand and bow for the verdict given by Kerala court also I applaud Grihalakshmi and Gilu Joseph. It was a bold yet much-required initiative. I have my friends and relatives who are always so tensed about how to breast feed their kids when they are out. India doesn’t provide any provisions for breastfeeding mothers in public places. The protesters must rather put similar amount of energy towards fighting for feeding mothers’ right to good infrastructure,” she stated.
The actress added up, “Also, a mother is a mother. Nothing can be obscene about her feeding her child. When a child needs to be fed, it needs to be fed! Mothers must bravely do the needful as it’s only good for their child.”
Advocate Vinod Mathew Wilson, who also filed a case in contradiction to the image, claimed that the cover was “explicit” and “insulting”.
But Divyanka Tripathi described him the actual meaning of breasts.
“They are hormonally influenced mammary-gland development and fat deposition and which secrete milk after the birth of a child: the breasts of males normally remain rudimentary. That’s right out of a dictionary. Hence, women’s breasts are meant to feed a child. They are definitely not reproductive organs as they are being confused and conceived by some calling it obscene. Let a woman be a woman. Stop judging and dictating! Start respecting!”
Divyanka, thank you for spelling it out.
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