NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court has shot down an interim order to block all porn sites in the country.
According to reports, the Court said it can’t stop an adult from exercising his fundamental right to personal liberty to watch porn within the privacy of his room.
“Such interim orders cannot be passed by this court. Somebody may come to the court and say look I am above 18 and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room. It is a violation of Article 21 [right to personal liberty],” Chief Justice H.L. Dattu said.
The petition was filed by anti-porn advocate Kamlesh Vashwani, who complained that the Centre government has not taken sufficient action to ban adult content. Vashwani maintained that there are four porn clips sites currently operating within the country itself.
Although the Court failed to enforce the ban porn, the Chief Justice’s Bench acknowledged that the government needs to step up.
“The issue is definitely serious and some steps need to be taken. The Centre is expected to take a stand…let us see what stand the Centre will take," Dattu said, directing the government to reply in four weeks.
But the government maintained that it doesn’t have the know-how to block sites that are well masked and have servers located outside the country. Officials said however, that they are working on an Internet security policy with the Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee.
Although the government vows to block “obscene” adult sites that lead to "crimes against women and children," it’s main thrust reportedly will be the blocking of child porn.
