The Dabur Karwa Chauth ad featuring a same-sex couple had to be pulled due to “public intolerance,” Supreme Court judge DY Chandrachud said on Saturday, commenting on the gap between laws aimed at eradicating social inequities and the reality on the ground.
FMCG company Dabur had last week withdrawn its advertisement depicting a same sex couple celebrating the Hindu festival of Karwa Chauth, hours after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra warned of legal action, calling the advertisement “objectionable”.
“Just two days ago, all of you would know, of this advertisement which a company was required to pull down. It was an advertisement was for Karva Chauth of a same-sex couple. It had to be withdrawn on the ground of public intolerance!”, Justice Chandrachud said at a public function, LiveLaw reported. He was speaking on ‘Empowerment of Women Through Legal Awareness’ at the Nationwide Launch Of Legal Awareness Programmes by NALSA in collaboration with the National Commission for Women.
Chandrachud said that while the Constitution had remedies for deep-rooted inequalities and patriarchy in India, there was a great divergence between the ideals of the law and the real state of society today.
“Our Constitution is a transformative document that sought to remedy the structural inequalities rooted in patriarchy. It has become a powerful tool to secure material entitlements and provide public affirmations of dignity and equality of women. Legislations like domestic violence act, prevention of sexual harassment at workplace act have been enacted to achieve the goal of fulfilling the constitutional rights of women. However, every day in our lives as judges of the Supreme Court, we come across injustice against women. There are real-life situations which show that there is great divergence between ideals of the law and the real state of the society today”, said Justice Chandrachud, the report states.
He gave examples of injustices that women face in various situations. “You come across a case of a daughter-in-law being thrown out from the house in a matrimonial dispute and then, when she complains under the domestic violence act, she is informed that the husband has no right, title or interest in a joint family home or that the home that belongs to the father! When the award of maintenance is sought to be enforced, the woman is told that the business belongs to the joint family and the husband is only a salaried partner in the business!…there is a matter where a woman was denied maternity leave for the first born child on the ground that her husband, from a prior marriage, had two living children! So a woman who was in a relationship, a marriage, with her husband for the first time was denied maternity leave because her husband had children from a previous marriage!…Just two days ago, there was an advertisement which a company was required to pull down- the advertisement was Karva Chauth by a same-sex couple. It had to be withdrawn on the ground of public intolerance!”, he added.
Narottam Mishra had objected to the advertisement earlier, and said: “I consider this a serious matter. More so because such advertisements and clippings are made on the rituals of Hindu festivals only. They (the advertisement) showed lesbians celebrating Karva Chauth and seeing each other through a sieve. In future, they will show two men taking ‘feras’ (marrying each other according to Hindu rituals). This is objectionable.”
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