Pornography laws in India

Is watching animal porn online illegal in india?

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There are no laws banning animal porn in India per se.

Viewing pornography is legal in India. Merely downloading and viewing such content does not amount to an offence.

However, what is expressly banned is the viewing of porn where the content has children engaging with one another or with adults in sexually explicit acts. Such viewing is punishable with imprisonment upto 5 years and fine upto 10 lakhs.

Answered on December 27, 2016.
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In India, under the Information Technology Act, 2000, Cyber pornography is a grey area of the law, where it is not prohibited but not legalized either?

Though the Indian laws are not prudish about porn consumption per se but it is always advisable not to watch any kind of obscene material in public or transmit/ share the same; one can however, view the same in private domain as it is very difficult to monitor private viewing.

Though it is important to know few relevant sections of Information technology Act (IT Act). Section 67 of the IT Act imposes a penalty of imprisonment up to three years for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form. Section 67A prescribes imprisonment up to five years for the same offence if the material in question contains "sexually explicit act or conduct".

However it is important o keep in mind section 377 of Indian penal code, 1860 which talks about unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with 152[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Therefore keeping in mind this section, watching animal porn might be considered illegal in india

The consumer would be vulnerable to one or the other of these pornography-related provisions even if he had shared the video only within his circle of friends. The very act of transmitting constitutes the offence. Thus, the consumer is safe so long as he is content receiving or downloading pornographic material. 

An understanding of these provisions makes the following conclusions about the law of cyber pornography in India extremely clear:

  • Viewing Cyber pornography is legal in India. Merely downloading and viewing such content does not amount to an offence.
  • Publication of pornographic content online is illegal.
  • Storing Cyber pornographic content is not an offence.
  • Transmitting cyber pornography via instant messaging, emails or any other mode of digital transmission is an offence.

Cyber pornography has not been legalized in India, however, it s browsing has not been prohibited either except in the case of child pornography. However keeping section 377 of IPC, the law can be turned against anybody. Nonetheless it is advisable to be quiet when the law is vague and can be invoked for anything even remotely controversial.

 

 

Answered on December 28, 2016.
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