Purity and pollution: a feminist rewriting of State of Uttar Pradesh v. Kaushailiya AIR 1964 SC 416

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Supreme Court’s judgement in State of Uttar Pradesh v Kaushailiya (“Kaushailiya”) affirmed the constitutionality of section 20 of the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act 1956. Our “alternative judgement” and commentary challenge the reasoning of the bench in that case from a feminist perspective, including Subba Rao J’s implicit use of concepts of contamination and pollution to support his Lordship’s reasoning.