Calcutta High Court to hear challenge against sex toy import ban

The Calcutta High Court has ruled that a writ petition challenging a Customs Department order is maintainable, rejecting arguments that the importer should have used statutory appeal processes instead. The case involves a challenge by M/s Pracha Aalloy Private Limited against the prohibition of imported sex toys and body massagers, which authorities classified as “obscene articles” under a 1964 notification and the Indian Penal Code.

Justice Smita Das Dey observed that the High Court would intervene when a statutory authority acts outside the boundaries of objective law and enters the “realm of subjective morality,” thereby affecting a citizen’s fundamental right to trade. The court noted that the case involves what appears to be a systematic misrepresentation of trade regulations across various custom houses, necessitating an authoritative judicial pronouncement. The court will now examine whether the Customs Department can legally invoke obscenity laws to prohibit these goods under the Customs Act, 1962, without a specific statutory or notification-based prohibition.