"I am not happy with the porn ban. This is not a solution."
After overturning it in 2015, India has banned online pornography in the country for the second time as of Friday, October 26, 2018.
The Indian government’s Department of Telecom has blocked 827 pornographic sites.
This is the second attempt by India, despite the country being the third largest consumers of online pornography, after the US and UK.
In August 2015, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the IT Ministry to ban 857 websites, on the grounds that the content promotes sexual assault.
The country is responsible for the Kama Sutra and graphic images are openly seen on ancient buildings. It was no surprise that many people were not happy about the ban.
They expressed their anger on Twitter and #PornBan quickly trended. Even Bollywood stars expressed their anger about the controversial ban.
The government’s attempt to ban online pornography was unsuccessful and was overturned.
Now in 2018, sites such as pornhub.com, xvideos.com, redtube.com and brazzers.com have now been blocked.
The ban reportedly came after a man accused of rape in Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun said that he committed the crime after watching a porn film.
With mobile operator Reliance Jio first imposing the ban others have followed too.
all major porn sites blocked by airtel bsnl and vodafone .. now we have to suffer internet censorship too #pornban
— sheyz (@sheyz17) October 31, 2018
Of course, the ban has attracted reaction on social media with memes and comments flowing from Indians not amused by this move, once again.
Jio users after porn ban be like #pornban #jio pic.twitter.com/b5myKFpMOp
— Gaurav Chattterrr-jee (@chattterrr) October 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/ankitfukte11/status/1055291714670333953
#pornban isn't the solution. Education is. Sexual assault and rapes aren't the result of porn but of misogynistic mindsets.
— Debjit (@moopoint1714) October 25, 2018
Actress Mahika Sharma, who is set to star in upcoming Bollywood film The Modern Culture with British Porn Star Danny D, shared her views on the porn ban.
She does not like the idea and feels that it will increase rape and molestation cases in India.
Mahika said: “I am not happy with the porn ban. This is not a solution.”
“Will it decrease rape cases in India? I think this will increase such crimes as now Indian men will start making MMS (videos) of innocent girls and will be made viral.”
“As our Indian society hides such cases, those victims will be not allowed to speak about it and will be locked in a room by their parents.”
“And this will happen more in Indian villages because In larko ko apni hawas toh bhujani hogi na (these guys will want to satisfy their lust.”
Despite the ban, it is impossible to stop Indians from accessing adult content.
Sites such as PornHub have launched a mirror site with a different domain, just for Indian users and posted the announcement on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Pornhub/status/1055931244129615874?s=20
Vice-president of PornHub Corey Price stated that the ban is evidence that they do not have a solution to the sexual assault problem in India.
He said:
“There are no laws against pornography in India and watching adult content privately.”
“It’s evident that the Indian government does not have a solution to a very serious and systematic problem in the country, and is using adult sites like ours as a scapegoat.
“For the government to ban sites like ours that have compliant parental controls, a non-consensual takedown page and a strict terms of service is a disservice to the people of India, who have become one of the largest connoisseurs of adult content.”
Rape and sexual assault in India is a huge problem with cases arising each day.
Mahika stated that the government should make the topic of sex more open instead of banning porn sites.
She added: “To get rid of rape we need to discuss more about sex. The topic should get natural like any other topic.”
“I request the government to please allow porn sites to run again in India.”
The mobile traffic share of PornHub in India has grown 121% between 2013 and 2017, the highest for any country.
Apart from PornHub’s loophole, there are other ways to access such content.
There are many proxy websites such as Hide.me, Hidester, Whoer.net and Anonymouse, to name a few.
Users can also access every banned site on some browsers, the most popular being the UC browser.
For users who are not tech savvy, access is easily available with DVDs costing as little as Rs. 32 (£0.34). Vendors also offer to upload porn movies on a flash drive for a similar price.
According to Sharma, India’s #MeToo movement highlights the lust among Indian men, and the ban will only increase the number of cases.
She concluded: “Sex is not bad. Love making is pure. I literally feel that we are losing our freedom.”
“#MeToo has brought out the graph of hawas (lust) among Indian men. Now without porn, that hawas (lust) will grow more.”
The previous ban on porn did not take long before being overturned, only time will tell how long the latest ban will last.
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