Is it legal to kiss in a public place ?
Is it legal to kiss in a public place ? If we see there is no act or section particularly in the IPC stating that kissing in public is an offense. But in 2007 during a campaign for AIDS awareness, a Hollywood actor Richard Gere kisses Shilpa Shetty publically. After this, an arrest warrant was issued by the Rajasthan Court under Section 294 IPC.
294 IPC,
294. Obscene acts and songs.—Whoever, to the annoyance of others—
(a) does any obscene act in any public place, or
(b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.
But there is no definition given by the IPC for the word “obscene”.
In Article 19 Clause 1 of the Indian Constitution, we have the Right to Expression.
Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. The law states that “all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression”. … This right is available only to a citizen of India and not to foreign nationals.
This obscene word is defined by society, if a couple kisses in public it may or may not be offensive unless society defines it to be offensive. Kissing is an Expression of love unless it is under the degree of Decency.