Obscenity in imported goods turns on objective assessment of prurient, sexually explicit material designed to corrupt viewers.

Imported game cards and related items bearing sexually explicit instructions and depictions were treated as obscene because, assessed objectively as a whole, they were lascivious, prurient and designed to excite sexual desire. The obscenity test under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code focuses on whether the material appeals to prurient interest and tends to deprave or corrupt persons likely to see it; nudity or sexual content alone is not enough, but commercially exploitative sexually explicit material may fall within the prohibition. Expert opinion was held unnecessary, as the deciding authority may assess obscenity on the material before it. The confiscation and penalty were upheld.

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Issues: Whether the imported goods, consisting of game cards and related items bearing sexually explicit instructions and depictions, were obscene and therefore prohibited for import, rendering them liable to confiscation and penalty.

Analysis: The imported goods were examined item-wise and the instructions printed on the cards and goods were found to be lascivious, prurient, salacious, and intended to excite sexual fantasies and desires. The legal test of obscenity under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 requires an objective assessment whether the material is lascivious, appeals to prurient interest, and tends to deprave and corrupt persons likely to see it. The standard is not the dictionary meaning of obscenity, and nudity or sexual content is not obscenity per se; however, where sex is used in a commercially exploitative manner and the material is designed to incite carnal interest, it falls within the legal prohibition. The contention that expert opinion was mandatory was rejected, as obscenity is to be adjudged by the deciding authority on the material before it. The authority found that the imported goods, including the cards and the dart and shooter games, satisfied the legal test of obscenity.

Conclusion: The imported goods were correctly held to be obscene and objectionable, and their confiscation and the penalty imposed were upheld in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: Obscenity is to be determined by an objective judicial assessment of the impugned material as a whole, and sexually explicit or prurient commercial material that tends to deprave and corrupt persons likely to encounter it is liable to be treated as obscene and prohibited.

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