Dabur's same-sex couple ad withdrawn due to 'public intolerance', says Justice Chandrachud

Supreme Court judge, Justice D Y Chandrachud has expressed concern over the withdrawal of an advertisement by Dabur, which showed a lesbian couple celebrating "karva chauth" festival, by terming it as "public intolerance".

He said that there was an advertisement which the company was required to pull down on the ground of public intolerance.

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Notably, Dabur India also tendered an unconditional apology for "unintentionally hurting people's sentiments". There have been several instances recently of social media backlash on companies due to their advertisements related to the depiction of Hindu festivals, forcing them to pull down their campaigns. Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra had threatened action against such companies.

In a speech on 'Empowerment of Women through Legal Awareness' at the launch of a NALSA programme organised in collaboration with the National Commission for Women, Justice Chandrachud emphasised bringing awareness not only upon woman's issues but making the younger generation of men in our society aware by changing the mindset.

"The more we realise that the category of women encompasses various social, economic and political disadvantages, the more we will be able to cater to their individualised and actual needs. True freedom for women, in other words, is truly intersectional," he said.

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Justice Chandrachud said that judges at the Supreme Court came across several real-life situations which showed that there was a great divergence between ideals of the law and the real state of the society.

"Our Constitution is a transformative document that sought to remedy the structural inequalities rooted in patriarchy. It has become a powerful tool to secure material entitlements and provide public affirmations of the dignity and equality of women. Legislations like domestic violence act, prevention of sexual harassment at workplace act have been enacted to achieve the goal of fulfilling the constitutional rights of women," he pointed out.

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