New Delhi, July 18 -- The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that the use of abusive or vulgar language, no matter how offensive or uncivil, does not by itself amount to the criminal offence of obscenity. The court mentioned such words would attract obscenity provisions only if they are lascivious, appeal to prurient interests and have the tendency to deprave or corrupt those exposed to them, reported Bar and Bench.

The ruling came from a Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi while partly allowing the appeal of a man convicted for obscenity after he used the expressions "motherf****r", "son of a w***e" and other vulgar expletives during a dispute over land.

"Let's be clear, legally, obscenity is not synonymous with ...