FIR against women’s magazine for publishing male nudes

Fully nude photographs of a teenage boy in a women’s magazine, Grihshobha, have landed the publisher in a police case.

A lawyer, Manoj Jaiswal, has filed a first information report (FIR) against publisher Delhi Press Group, the vendor and the distributor stating that the contents of the publication are obscene.

“I bought the magazine for my family on Wednesday and noticed three nude photographs of a boy on page number 32. I found it obscene and filed a complaint at the Worli police station on Thursday,” said Jaiswal, 34.

Jaiswal submitted the purchase bill and the magazine to the police. The Worli police filed an FIR against the publisher, a Worli-based vendor, and the local distributors under sections 292 and 293 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with the sale and printing of obscene books.

The police are now investigating the matter. “We are trying to figure out whom to hold responsible for the photographs,” said an officer of the Worli police station.

Three full nudes of a western teenager have been published in the December edition of Grihshobha.

On the photographs is a morphed image of a girl looking at the photographs. The Hindi text below translates as — “Earlier, nude photographs of women were in vogue. Now, a photographer has organised an exhibition of 200 nudes of a teenager. However, it is not known how many women would want to solicit him.”

Grihshobha is a Hindi biweekly magazine for young women that covers entertainment, fashion, celebrity gossip, lifestyle, cookery and health.

It began publication in 1979, and is among the largest sold magazines in its category in India, with editions in many Indian languages. The group also publishes Grihalakshmi and Woman’s Era.