A few days ago, the Indian government had issued a directive to blacklist over 800 porn websites and this move was met with harsh criticism, which was seen in various social media sites, notably Reddit and Twitter, where one author Chetan Bhagat commented on the new development:
Porn ban is anti-freedom, impractical, not enforceable. Politically not very smart too. avoidable. Let’s not manage people’s private lives.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) August 3, 2015
Don’t ban porn. Ban men ogling, leering, brushing past, groping, molesting, abusing, humiliating and raping women. Ban non-consent. Not sex. — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) August 3, 2015
There was also a Twitter hashtag #NextBanIdea where they made fun of that ban by suggesting other “bans”
#NextBanIdea Elections! Democracy already seems dead.
— Abhinav (@AbhinavAAP) August 3, 2015
#NextBanIdea RELIGION. Because Religion has claimed more lives than all calamities, accidents, and epidemics taken together.
— Aladdin (@Alllahdin) August 3, 2015
#NextBanIdea: Anyone who has an opinion different from yours must be banned. After all, you are always right.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) August 3, 2015
It seems the government has decided to buck under the immense pressure from the backlash where the Information and Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad issued a statement saying that “A new notification will be issued shortly. The ban will be partially withdrawn. Sites that do not promote child porn will be unbanned”
Previously, the ministry had issued the order on July 31st to ban these websites under section 79 (3) (b) of the IT Act where they said “certain websites have been reviewed and found to be spreading anti-social activities as hyperlinks from these websites, some of them were pornographic, so we have sent letters to internet service providers to block them.”
India’s Supreme court apparently in July had refused to issue a ban from a petition filed which suggested Internet fueled sex crimes in the country. A leading Indian sexologist, Dr Prakash Kothari was quoted as saying “porn addiction depends on an individual’s personality where the desire is uncontrollable; the need is unquenchable and the behaviour is compulsive”
Well it seems a country that gave the world the Kama Sutra book, you can’t just ban porn websites and get away with it. It would be one of the biggest ironies of our time.
