And finally, govt won’t stop you from watching porn

Taking a U turn, the central government has told the apex court that they would ‘try’ to ban child porn content and do nothing on adult content. Last week, the entire nation vehemently opposed govt’s sudden decision of blocking websites containing pornography. The netizens woke up and made fun of the BJP ruled government at centre.

However, this recent reaction from government forces one to ask why this feedback suddenly. The statement made by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, during a hearing on a public interest litigation that has sought court intervention to get the government cracking down against child porn, is being seen as an attempt to deflect recent criticism against the government's decision to block more than 850 websites.

"If someone wants to watch a film, how do you stop it? Can we do moral policing in people's bedrooms," the AG asked. He was making his submissions before a bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy. "Geographical frontiers are no longer restricted. Unlike earlier, pornography is not restricted to magazines and books. It can be stopped to a limited extent," the AG said.

The AG's submission is also a tacit acceptance of the limits of what a government could do in a democratic setup. Whether technologically feasible or not, a certain section would always feel that it was an adult choice of entertainment that the state should not interfere with, Rohatgi said.

The AG said child porn had to be blocked, but wondered whether a complete ban was possible given the number of websites mushrooming in the virtual world.

Senior lawyer Meenakshi Arora, appearing for some Internet Service Providers, said they could block some websites under court orders, but not all.