KOCHI: Judging a woman or making conclusions about her virtue or modesty based on her dress is unpardonable and impermissible in any civilised society, as such judgments stem from rigid patriarchal notions, Kerala high court has held.
A bench of justices Devan Ramachandran and M B Snehalatha made this observation while setting aside a family court verdict that granted custody of two children to their father and ruled that the mother was unworthy of their care. The family court concluded that she was of loose morals, as alleged by her husband – on the grounds that she wore “revealing dresses”, posted pictures on dating apps, spent time with male friends, used abusive language towards her husband and hired a ‘hacker’ to access her husband’s computer.
Regretting that such observations were made on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, the division bench granted the custody of the two children to their mother. The bench acknowledged how deeply rigid gender roles and patriarchy have permeated society, and emphasised that “unwritten dress codes” have a lasting impact on women’s lives with the sexualisation and policing of women’s clothing starting as early as school. No one has the right to judge a woman based on her attire or her choices in life. Clothing is a form of self-expression and part of an individual’s identity or aesthetic expression, it added.
HC also noted that the mother celebrated her divorce with a close group of friends, and termed it unfortunate that the ex-husband submitted photographs of her celebrating as part of evidence, and the family court even took that into consideration. The notion that a woman should be sad about a divorce and only happy in marriage is so deeply ingrained that it requires no further explanation, the bench observed, stating that personal opinions must not influence judgments.