Bombay high court, says no to blanket ban on porn websites

Mumbai: Taking into account the differing perceptions of what can be ‘lascivious and prurient’, the Bombay high court, in an order passed last week, turned down a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a blanket ban on websites with sexual content on the internet.

A public interest litigation (PIL) initiated by NGO Janhit Manch had sought a court direction to the Union government to ban freely available sexual content on the internet. The PIL stated that ‘the pornographic and sexual content on the Net was adversely influencing the minds of the country’s youth, who could be misled into delinquency’.

Justice FI Rebello and justice JH Bhatia, however, said the legislature had already enacted a law under which a person aggrieved by web content could seek the prosecution of accused persons under Section 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.