The all-male, mostly-teen theater audience was made to do at least 10 sit-ups each in a public square after police called their parents to observe. The audience also was made to vow that they, as individuals, would never watch porn again.
Though showing adult movies is illegal in India, many cinemas still screen them despite the ban. Police Officer Sanjeev Panda told the Hindustan Times that efforts to crack down on cinemas were fruitless, “so we decided to crack down on the audience.”
Shame tactics also have been used recently in the United States. Phoenix police regularly alert the news media before busts of massage parlors and swing clubs so that patrons can be filmed on the way out.
In India, where adult content is now becoming popular by means of mobile phones, illegal big-screen exhibition still causes police to take notice. This weekend’s shame campaign stopped short of arresting consumers, but several theater employees in the town of Orissa were booked.
