New Delhi: The Madras High Court has set strict anti-obscenity rules for a dance programme ‘Aadal Paadal’ at a temple in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu.
Granting conditional permission for a cultural programme at the temple, the HC issued a stern warning against any form of “obscenity or undignified” performance. The Madurai bench instituted a specific dress code, requiring “modest” attire that avoids the “exposure of the midriff, thighs, legs or chest”. Specifically, men are expected to wear dhotis or pyjamas, while women must wear sarees, half-sarees, or churidars with an upper cloth.
Justice L. Victoria Gowri warned that any violation of these obscenity and dress code conditions would result in immediate legal action, including the “arrest of the organisers and all members of the temple committee”.
Additional rules include a 10 pm curfew, a ban on political or communal overtones, and a requirement that the entire programme be videographed.
She also ruled that no women participants should be “depicted or portrayed in an obscene or undignified manner either in the form of clothing or otherwise” during the performance. Furthermore, the order prohibited the use of “double meaning songs” to ensure the programme does not “spoil the minds of students and youths”.
Speaking to ThePrint, senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani took a balanced view of the court’s order and cautioned that it should be viewed in proper context. “The court has not prohibited the cultural programme. On the contrary, it has permitted it while prescribing certain conditions relating to timings, public safety, communal harmony, political neutrality and the nature of the performances.”
“The prescribed dress code forms only one part of a larger framework intended to ensure that the event remains consistent with the religious and cultural character of the temple festival,” she said, noting that courts do possess the jurisdiction to regulate cultural performances held in connection with religious festivals, particularly when such regulation is “incidental to granting permission for public events and is aimed at maintaining public order, decency and the sanctity of the occasion”.
These were not blanket restrictions on artistic expression, she said, but conditional safeguards attached to a specific event conducted in a public religious space.
Tamil Nadu is a state with an exceptionally rich cultural and spiritual heritage, she explained, where temples continue to be centres of faith, tradition and community life. Plus, it is not uncommon for temples across India, including renowned shrines such as Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams and the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, to prescribe dress codes for devotees entering the temple premises, she told ThePrint.
Pavani said it was noteworthy that this particular order was passed by Justice L. Victoria Gowri, demonstrating that the emphasis on maintaining decorum at a temple festival is not necessarily a gendered perspective but one rooted in preserving the cultural ethos of the event.
Viewed in the context of a temple festival, “these prescriptions are intended to uphold the decorum traditionally associated with the venue rather than to regulate personal fashion choices in everyday life,” she said, emphasising on maintaining the cultural and religious character of a specific event.
Earlier this year too, in March, the HC was petitioned by resident S. Arun, seeking directions for police protection and permission for Valli Thirumanam drama and dance programme in connection with the Sri Kaliamman Temple Festival in Madurai district on 311 March-1 April.
Justice Gowri granted the plea and had ordered: “No women participating in the cultural programme would be depicted or portrayed in an obscene or undignified manner either in the form of clothing or otherwise.” Similar rules like the recent June order were imposed in March as well—like the 10 pm curfew and even the prohibition on “double meaning” songs.
Another similar order was passed in March by Justice Gowri’s bench. Resident A. Vaithiyanathan, after being rejected by the police, petitioned the HC seeking permission to conduct the cultural event of ‘Karagattam’ (a popular folk dance) in connection with Temple Thiruvizha scheduled to be held from 8-10 March at Arulmighu Kaligaparameshwari Temple of the Trichy district. The government advocate submitted that in the name of ‘Karagattam’, people do not conduct ‘Karagattam’ at all, but it is only obscene ‘Adal Padal’ (dance and song) and only because of that the police denied them permission.
Justice Gowri was of the view that the traditional dance of ‘Karagattam’ should not be distorted either in the mode of dancing or in the mode of dressing and made clear that “proper dress code as displayed in Tamil Movie Karagattakaran should be followed by the dancers while performing Karagattam”.
Justice Gowri had a controversial appointment as a judge in 2023. Advocate and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha national secretary L. Victoria Gowri’s appointment as a judge was objected by many lawyers when the Supreme Court Collegium headed by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud recommended her elevation.
However, she isn’t the only judge to have prescribed these strict dress and conduct restrictions on festival organisers.
Over a decade, a jurisprudence has evolved—from dress codes to banning “double-meaning songs”—with similar patterned orders aimed at keeping festival performances “dignified”.
Every festival season, the same legal question returns to the Madras HC: Where does cultural celebration end and obscenity begin?
Almost every year, the same chain of events follow. Residents who are denied police permission to organise and host music and dance festivals approach the high court seeking permissions. The high court grants them permission and imposes conditions on dress code, “double meaning” songs and time curfews.
In December last year, petitioned by the a resident of Karur village, seeking permission to organise sporting events and “Aadalum Paadalum” cultural programme, the HC allowed the event on 1 January on one condition—that the festivities do not include any obscene acts and cause a law and order issue.
In January 2023, the high court was petitioned by by Muthu Murugan, general secretary of Vanavengaigal Peravai, an organisation functioning to promote the welfare and social upliftment of the people belonging to Kuravar community—an indigenous ethnic community in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He sought a direction to ban these cultural dance programmes, as they allegedly denigrated Kuruvar community members, the high court passed an important order.
Justices R. Mahadevan and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that dance shows do not use caste/tribal communities and vulgar, obscene dance shows—passing off as kuravan-kurat dance—in the name of temple festivals.
The bench had acknowledged that despite various directions of the HC, obscenity in the dance persists and such misrepresentation and misappropriation of kuravar’s indigenous art form would hurt the community’s feelings.
In May 2017, the high court was petitioned by several individuals and groups in Madurai to allow them to organise cultural events. Justice K. Kalyanasundaram allowed them with conditions. “There should not be any kind of obscene dance or vulgar dialogues during the performance by any one of the participants… no dance or songs, touching upon any political party, religion, community, or caste shall be played,” he said. Even flex boards and banners depicting political inclinations were not allowed.
For the annual Dussehra festival, the high court ordered the same in August 2017. Justices K.K. Sasidharana and G.R. Swaminathan said that devotees were coming in the guise of gods and goddesses with religious fervour for the festival and in such a scenario, obscene dance is was not acceptable.
In October 2015, allowing a ‘cultural dance’ programme to be held as part of a temple festival in Namakkal district after the police denied permission, the Madras HC laid down eight conditions for the organisers of Thondikaradu Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Theedal in Thiruchengode town.
Justice M.M. Sundresh said, the organisers should not allow “any kind of obscene dance or vulgar dialogues during the performance… double meaning songs should not be played so as to spoil the minds of students and youths.”
No dance or songs, referring to any political party or religion or community or caste, should be played, he said and the function should not affect “either religious or communal harmony and shall be conducted without any discrimination based on caste”.
Again in February 2014, the Madras High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by a hotelier seeking to conduct nightly cultural dance programmes, ruling that the potential for the “indecent representation of women” justifies preventive action by law enforcement. Justice V. Ramasubramanian stated that police have a “social obligation to take preventive measures” rather than waiting for a crime to be committed.
The court placed heavy emphasis on the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, which defines such representation as any depiction of a woman’s body “in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent or derogatory to or denigrating women or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals”.
Crucially, the court noted that the law prohibits even the “likelihood of deprivation or injury to the public morality”. The judge ruled that if a licencing authority, based on past experiences, concludes that a licence is “likely to result in deprivation or injury to public morality”, the decision cannot be faulted.
The court also cited international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), noting that authorities must take measures to suppress the “trafficking and exploitation of women” often disguised as cultural performances. Consequently, the petition was dismissed.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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