India restores internet porn after nationwide backlash to ban

A ban on porn sites in India has been partially removed after drawing swift and fervent criticism.

India’s Department of Telecom banned 857 porn sites from being accessed in the country last Friday. The order cited the country’s 2000 IT Act, which gives the government the right to ban content and websites that are deemed “immoral and indecent.”

Blowback from the ban was not unexpected—Indians apparently love porn: According to PornHub, India is fifth worldwide when it comes to number of daily visitors, and fourth in terms of mobile visits.

Indian citizens immediately took to social media to express their dissatisfaction:

Bollywood also reacted negatively. Composer-singer Vishal Dadlani tweeted that she, “wouldn’t be surprised (about the pornban). Ironically, banned by the same party whose MPs were caught watching porn in parliament.”

And director Ram Gopal Verma said, “Considering the sheer popularity of porn whichever government owns up to banning it is sure to be wiped out of existence in next election. Government should work on finding ways to steer the content not to go in wrong directions rather than to block it.”

The order also went against a ruling made by India’s Supreme Court, which had previously rejected the government’s effort to ban porn.

“Such interim orders cannot be passed by this court,” said Chief Justice H.L Dattu. “Somebody can come to the court and say ‘Look, I am an adult and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room? It is a violation of article 21 (right to personal liberty) of the Constitution.”

Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s information and technology minister, announced Wednesday that the ban “will be partially withdrawn” and that “sites that do not promote child porn will be unbanned.”

Justice finally comes.

Fidel Martinez is an editor at Fusion.net. He’s also a Texas native and a lifelong El Tri fan.