The Central government has no plans to prevent citizens from watching pornography in private, it has told the Supreme Court.
“Government supports the right of a person to watch porn in private,” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu as it began hearing a petition seeking a ban on porn websites.
The government told the Supreme Court that “it cannot ban porn except for child pornography.”
“It’s a question of a person’s right to speech and entertainment,” the government said, dispelling doubts that it may be mulling a blanket ban on pornography.
The state cannot be present in every household to check what people were watching in private and interfere with their entertainment, Rohatgi added.
Telling the court that there has to be some self regulation to check the viewing of porn websites, the AG told the court that the state could not be totalitarian.
The clarification came just days after the Central government imposed a ban on 857 porn websites and asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to them.
The government had later, however, asked ISPs to review the ban and allow access to those of the 857 websites which were non-porn.
“The government has asked the ISPs to go through the 857 sites again as the government has received complaints that some of the sites which are banned are of non-pornographic nature,” an official source said.
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the ban was a temporary measure till final orders are taken by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had in its observation on the issue on July 8 said that banning such sites would be violation of an individual’s right to liberty.
The government ban on porn sites evoked sharp reactions and was slammed from all quarters. The move was even dubbed ‘Talibanisation’ and netizens on social media accused government of infringing on liberty of individuals.
