India, July 18 -- The Supreme Court on Friday answered whether abusive language would amount to the offence of obscenity under criminal law, saying that it could, but only under very specific circumstances.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi held that abusive language and vulgar expletives, however offensive or uncivil, will not amount to obscenity unless they are lascivious, appeal to prurient interests, and have the tendency to deprave or corrupt those exposed to them.

The court made the observation while partly allowing the appeal of a man who was convicted for obscenity for using the words "motherf***ker", "son of a wh*re" and other vulgar expletives during an altercation over a land dispute.

"Let's be clear, leg...