Constitutional Morality Vs Public Morality: Regulating Female Autonomy Through Moral Policing In India

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Saim Adnan Khan, Amity University, Noida

ABSTRACT

Moral policing in India exists in a grey area between law and social control and does not have a legal category but is very powerful in shaping and controlling individual behaviour. It is often defended by the concept of decency, security or social order and goes beyond what is acceptable to control to the area of individual choice. The current paper critically discusses the constitutional soundness of moral policing in terms of Articles 14, 19, and 21, with specific emphasis on its gender effect.

It claims that moral policing is unconstitutional since it operates by being arbitrary and selective in its enforcement and discriminating against women disproportionately. These practices are harmful as they allow discretion to play freely without references to legal norms and infringe personal liberty by encroaching upon decisional autonomy. Based on the developing jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, such as the case of K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the paper points to the rise of constitutional morality as a principle that governs over the majoritarian social norms.

Nevertheless, the continued existence of moral policing indicates a disjuncture between constitutional theory and its realization in practice, especially in its implementation at the daily level of enforcement. The paper will illustrate that moral policing is not just a social issue but a constitutional issue of structure by placing it in this gap. It ends by concluding that effective realisation of basic rights would go beyond a mere doctrinal clarity, but needs to be based on a consistent application in terms of constitutional morality.

Keywords: Constitutional Morality; Public Morality; Moral Policing; Personal Autonomy; Article 21; Gender Equality; Indirect Discrimination; Article 14; Freedom of Expression; Rule of Law.

196. CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY VS PUBLIC MORALITY- REGULATING FEMALE AUTONOMY THROUGH MORAL

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