Kerala HC quashes case against activist Rehana Fathima for video with kids

The High Court of Kerala on Monday, June 5, quashed further proceedings against activist Rehana Fathima in the case relating to her controversial video showing her children painting on her semi-nude body. Dismissing the case, Justice Kauser Edappagath who presided the hearing, noted the importance of body autonomy and said that there are many double standards in society about male and female bodies.

The Kerala HC also underlined that there is nothing wrong in a mother allowing her body to be used as a canvas by her children to paint upon, in order to normalise the nude body for them and to sensitise them towards it. 

In the said video from 2020 related to the case, Rehana’s children – aged 14 and 8 back then– were allegedly asked by her to paint on the upper part of her semi-nude body. She then uploaded the clip on YouTube. The video became controversial, with many alleging that she had represented her children obscenely by publicising it. In response, she contended that it was part of an attempt to destigmatise nudity and impart sex education to children.

Subsequently, a case was registered against Rehana under Sections 13 (use of child for pornographic purposes), 14 (punishment for using a child for pornographic purposes), and 15 (storing or possessing child pornographic content) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), and Section 67B (d) (publishing or transmitting sexually explicit content involving a child) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 75 (punishment for neglecting child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The court criticised the double standards in our society, mentioning that male and female nudity is treated differently, and while body painting on men is accepted even during ritual celebrations like Pulikali and Theyyam, a woman’s nude body is sexualised into an object of desire. Stressing that the intention of the petitioner in making and uploading the said video was to expose such double standards and impart body sensitivity to her children, the court said that the offences charged do not hold ground.

The Kerala HC had earlier dismissed Rehana’s anticipatory bail application in the case and observed that while she was free to give sex education to her children in any manner she liked inside her house, publishing the same prima facie attracted the offences relating to the obscene representation of children. The Supreme Court has also rejected her bail plea and a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra noted that the video comprised an act which spreads obscenity. 

Rehana Fathima had first come to the limelight in 2018, when she had to abandon her plan to pray at the Sabarimala temple after backlash from Hindu right-wing activists who were stationed at the temple, threatening to thwart her entry. BJP and RSS supporters also staged protests in front of her house, and she was terminated from BSNL, where she had been working, citing that her Facebook posts and messages incited communal tension.