On July 24, 2020, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan of the Kerala High Court rejected Rehana's bail plea in the case.

The Kerala High Court has acquitted activist Rehana Fathima in a semi-nude body painting case. Justice Kausar Edpagath said, "It is wrong to divide nudity into obscenity or immorality. Nudity should not be linked to sex. Only the upper part of a woman's body is naked, not sexuality. Similarly, the description or depiction of a woman's nude body is not always sexual or obscene.

Rehana had uploaded a video on social media of her minor son and daughter getting her body painted. Due to this, two cases were registered against him under the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights POCSO Act. Now after getting relief from the court, Rehana Fatima said that this fight was more difficult for her children than her. "After three years, it was proved that what I did was not wrong, whatever message I gave was not wrong. In our society, men can roam outside without shirts, but there are ways in every community for women. We need to change our thinking."

In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Rehana said, "We did not think that such a case would happen. There was a huge impact on the children. My son told me he had to do body painting. After this, the video was also made. That's why we did it. Along with posting the video, I had given the message - 'Children should identify the woman's body from the mother's body'.

Rehana also gave a message for the society during this time. "In our society, men can roam outside without wearing shirts, but that is not the case for women. For women, in every community, all the rules, rules and procedures are told. It is considered wrong to see hands or feet somewhere. Women have been made a sex object in a way that simply satisfies men. There should be a change in this thinking. When you go out, what sexuality does it look like when you see a woman feeding a baby? No, no. In this, you will see the mother's affection. The woman has full rights over the woman's body. Don't be afraid of the woman who is being intimidated about this."

Rehana says, "After the case, I was in jail for 15 days. My kids felt bad. There is a discussion outside that what will be the mental struggle of children by painting? What will happen to the children? Whatever was happening inside him was not happening by painting or video recording. For him, his mother was sent to jail for so many days, because he painted. It was a very mental impact for them."

How and who explained it to the children?
To whom and how did you explain to the children in this difficult time? In response to this question, Rehana Fatima says, "At that time I could not convince them, because I was in jail. My former partner and his parents were at home till I came back from jail. My mother was also at home. These people took care of the children. Corona was going on at that time, so there was no communication. After coming back from jail, it took me several days to take care of the children.

"It
took me a long time to convince the kids that there was nothing wrong with what we did. The children painted. We made the video and also gave a message to the world with the video. But the world does not understand this. She is thinking that there is obscenity, nudity, exploitation in it. This is a problem with their thinking. We didn't do anything wrong. Now, after three years, I have proved that I had done nothing wrong. At that time my son was 12 years old and daughter was 8 years old. Both are happy after the court order has come.

On July 24, 2020, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan of the Kerala High Court rejected Rehana's bail plea in the case. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan had said, "I do not agree with the argument of giving sex education to children by painting Rehana on a semi-nude body, she should have done it inside the boundary wall."

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"Nudity and obscenity are not always synonymous..." Kerala HC acquits Rehana Fathima in semi-nude painting case