Women Approach Supreme Court Demanding Complete Ban On Pornography Websites

New Delhi: The number of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) demanding ban on pornography websites is steadily increasing in the corridors of the Supreme Court with most of the petitioners being women.

The petitioners state that their spouses are addicted to pornography websites and content and this is impacting their married life. While the first PIL in this regard was filed in 2013, several married women have come forward since then to become party to that litigation. A co-petitioner mentioned that her husband is forcing her to consent for a divorce, while another said that the porn-addiction is making her husband unfit for a married life.

The Supreme Court is listening to arguments from the women, internet companies and also IT experts in view of the growing demand for a complete ban on porn sites. However, IT experts state that it is difficult to impose a complete ban on these websites. The reason is that most of the servers of these websites are located outside India. The increased use of smartphones with high memory is another setback for plans for a complete ban on pornography. The internet penetration in all regions and all sections of the society makes it near impossible to impose restrictions.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court Women's Association (SCWLA) also demanded a complete blocking of pornography sites and making viewing of pornographic material in public an offence. Also, these websites are accessible through proxy servers which are difficult to detect. In a reply to the Supreme Court, the Modi government stated that they are working with Interpol to take measures to control the growing menace of child pornography and videos of sexual attacks on children.

As a first step, the Supreme Court suggested to the government to explore a complete ban on viewing pornography in public places and impose severe penalties for violation of the ban order.