WatchingPorn in India becomes illegal
A lawyer representing the Maharashtra government in a privacy-related case in Supreme Court reportedly hinted that watching porn inside homes was not a fundamental right that Indians could claim and that it might be illegal.
India is ranked no. 3 globally in watching porn. about 65%-70
The verdict is out. Ban or no ban, India is watching more porn than ever. In 2015, India knocked out Canada to grab the third position - after the US and Britain - in visiting one of the world’s largest adult websites Pornhub.
In its annual review of how people around the world watch porn, Pornhub found that while the US added 11 seconds to their average time spent on watching porn, India - at 9 minutes 30 seconds - recorded a higher average time with a one-minute increase in the duration of each visit.
In fact, visits from smartphones alone now account for 53 percent of traffic shares, up from just 45 percent last year. Only 36 percent of Pornhub traffic originates from desktop computers worldwide,” the review noted.
The most famous keyword search among Indians was “Indian, including bhabhi, aunty and teen.
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A lot of chaos is about how courts interpret something. But a lawyer representing the Maharashtra government in a privacy-related case in Supreme Court reportedly hinted that watching porn inside homes was not a fundamental right that Indians could claim and that it might be illegal. Watching porn in public spaces in India is anyways illegal.
The argument by senior advocate Aryama Sundaram was made in the Supreme Court before a 9-judge bench that is deliberating on whether privacy is a fundamental right for Indians or not. The question has come up after various petitions challenged the central government making Aadhaar mandatory in a number of cases.
The central government is arguing that Indians do not have a fundamental right to privacy according to the Constitution. On Thursday, the central government was joined by the state of Maharashtra, which has a BJP-led government, in its stance.
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While arguing that Indians do not have a fundamental right to privacy, Sundaram hinted that the government considers watching pornography even in the privacy of homes abhorrent and something that should not be allowed in the country.
During the course of his argument, Sundaram reportedly asked, "Can I come to court and say I have a fundamental right to watch pornography in my home?" The question was reportedly answered by Judge Jasti Chelameswar who is part of 9-judge bench. "Why not," he asked the counsel.
Considering the fact that the current case is not about pornography it seems neither the Supreme Court judges nor Sundaram pressed on this point, although the question and the counter question did drew sniggers and laughs in the courtroom.
The IT Act notes that a person can be imprisoned for up to three years for publishing or transmitting obscene material. Also, the punishment goes up to five years if the material also has "sexually explicit act or conduct". Transmitting or sharing child pornography too is an offence in India with punishment of up to five years.
Also, the IT Act amendments in 2011 contained provisions aimed at regulating cyber cafes. One of these provisions noted that watching pornography in a cyber cafe was illegal and the responsibility to ensure that users didn't watch porn lied with the cafe owner.
Magnitude of Pornography among Indians:
Younger men, those engaged in the transport business (as truck or bus drivers or helpers), and men who had started sex at a younger age, were more likely to be pornography watchers than other clients, as were men who found female sex workers in public places and by telephone, and who had traveled outside Bangalore in the previous year. Those who had visited more than three sex worker partners in the past month, and had either not used a condom, or had a condom break in the previous month, and those who had had anal sex with an FSW, were also more likely to be pornography watchers; 91 % of those reporting anal sex with an FSW had seen pornography in the previous month, compared to 75 % of those who did not report anal sex with an FSW. Furthermore, almost all those clients who reported anal sex with a man or transsexual in the previous six months (95 %) had watched pornography in the past month, compared to 76 % of those who did not report this practice. Eighty-nine percent of recent SEP users reported pornography use compared to 74 % of non-SEP users
