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Pornography websites are not accessible from India, several news sites said on Sunday. But these reports also said it was not clear if the government had issued an order to this effect. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma criticised the ban on porn websites in a series of tweets, said the Press Trust of India.
Calling the move "regressive", Varma said banning porn sites is not a solution to stop sexual crimes. "History proved it multiple times that any time anything is banned, it will just gather strength in the underground. Any deprivation of personal liberty of an individual by a government amounts to a regression of social progress of that country. It's a proven fact by international surveys that instead of fuelling sexual crimes, porn actually provides a safer outlet for sexual repression. Government should work on finding ways to steer the content not to go in wrong directions rather than to block it," he tweeted.
A Huffington Post article said a discussion on Reddit quoted users as saying they landed on blank pages while trying to access porn sites, and some of them came across the message: 'The site has been blocked as per the instructions of Competent Authority.'
In July, the Supreme Court had refused to block pornographic websites. Chief Justice of India H L Dattu, heading a three-judge Bench, had said stopping people from watching such sites within their homes could amount to violation of right to personal liberty. He had asked the Union home ministry to file a detailed affidavit within four weeks. An Indore-based petitioner had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on all pornographic websites.
