Abstract
Verbal violence targeting women has become an increasingly visible issue in contemporary Indian society. Among the myriad forms of abuse, the use of highly offensive, gender-specific verbal abuses, including derogatory words elicited in the names of mothers, sisters, and daughters, has gained prominence in Indian cinema, television, social media, OTT platforms, and public gatherings. These abuses are deeply rooted in societal attitudes that normalize disrespect and violence against women, often blurring the lines between free speech and hate speech. Gender-centric verbal violence-especially sexualized slurs directed at women is pervasive in Indian public life and mediated spaces, contributes to gender-based humiliation and harms women's mental and social well-being, and normalizes sexual violence. In India, the most common street-level and digital insults exchanged between men are sexualized, women-centric, and gender-centric verbal abuses, including derogatory terms to mothers, sisters, and daughters. Ironically, these expressions are rarely used against women-they are used by men, toward men, yet they revolve around the sexual humiliation of women. This linguistic pattern reflects a deeply patriarchal worldview where a man's honor is symbolically tied to the sexual purity of his female relatives, and where dominance is asserted by imagined sexual violation of women. Thus, even in all-male exchanges, these abuses are gendered in content but gender-neutral in target, functioning as ritualized performances of masculine aggression. Existing Indian law provides some criminal remedies under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, relevant provisions like those replacing IPC Sections 294 and 509 continue to criminalize: Obscene or sexually offensive acts or utterances in public places; and Words, gestures, or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman. However, these offenses still depend on context and intent, meaning not every abusive word automatically qualifies. This highlights a legal threshold gap. The law currently recognizes such abuse as criminal only when it crosses specific evidentiary boundaries. In contrast, socially, it has already crossed the moral and psychological threshold of violence; the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, and there are mechanisms for media and digital regulation (e.g., Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rules; IT Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021). However, the enforcement shows high thresholds for proving obscenity and "insult to modesty," and these mechanisms do not comprehensively prevent routine public or broadcast use of sexualized slurs. This paper examines the impact of such language on societal norms, the need for regulatory intervention, and the imperative to uphold the values of respect, dignity, and gender equality in Indian civilization. This paper argues for a targeted policy package modelled on smoke-free public-place bans (tobacco control)-combining explicit prohibitions in defined public spaces and regulated media, sustained public health education, decriminalized administrative penalties for repeat public use (fines, community service), and more vigorous digital content takedown/enforcement-to reduce normalization of gender-centric verbal sexual violence. We propose a draft regulatory framework for phased pilot implementation, discuss legal and constitutional considerations, and call for empirical evaluation of health and social benefits.