The proliferation of pornography has reached to such an extent that even the Supreme Court had to make scathing remarks about the sexual content being served by the producers in the name of web series. The apex court is right to say that porn movies are being dished out in the name of web series. It is difficult to rein in them under the law that is in place now. So, it is natural to worry about how bad the situation will turn out to be. Now, porn movies have reached the drawing rooms through television under the pretext of web series.
Though not all web series are bad or exhibit sexual content, but most of them do so. The public discourse is dominated by the discussion about porn! Along with the rest of the world, the number of people watching porn web series is increasing continuously in India as well.
Forget the metropolitan cities, the porn film industry has even penetrated into small cities where porn films are being shot in the name of web series. In February last year, a porn movie was being shot by two young men from Indore. When the police investigated, it was found that the two young men who were shooting the porn in the name of the web series were connected to the porn industry of 22 countries including America, Canada, Turkey, Kuwait, Indonesia and Malaysia. Apart from this, there are not only reports about making porn films in the name of web series, but all these contents have been uploaded on various OTT (over the top) platforms and people are also watching them. Earlier, people used to watch porn movies secretly on mobile or on desktop, but now it can be available to every person through TV with an internet connection and OTT platform. Therefore, the situation will go from bad to worse now. I have always been concerned about the horrors associated with the mushrooming of pornography, which is why I raised many questions during my 18-year tenure in the Rajya Sabha. I have also written volumes about how porn films are causing a psychological scar on our youth. In April 2013, I along with Jain Acharya Vijay Ratnasundarsuri ji Maharaj Sahab had filed a plea in the Rajya Sabha. The plea described how various porn sites have badly affected the society especially teenagers. At an early age, they indulge in sexual activity which scars their whole life. The plea demanded that by amending the Information Technology Act 2000, displaying and watching pornographic content on computers and mobiles should be declared a crime. Stringent punishment should be meted out to porn producers, distributors and viewers. Internet service providers must also block such prurient sites.
Of course, the government took the initiative in this direction. It started blocking the porn sites in subsequent years. So far, more than 3,000 porn sites have been blocked, but the biggies of the porn industry find a way out immediately. Even today, thousands of such sites exist. The kind of strict law that was required for curbing the proliferation of such pernicious sites has not been framed even today. People easily find sites. There is no need to surf the web series now. And doesn’t the government have an idea of what is being shown these days in the name of a web series? When it concerns the use of abusive terms, it should have been curbed immediately. Only porn films are being named as web series and it is also spreading because the demand is very high. A maligned and now banned porn website released the data in the first month of lockdown and said that the number of Indians visiting its sites has increased rapidly. The figure had risen by about 20 per cent. The figure may have reached even higher by now.
According to a report, 65 per cent of Indian children between the age of 15 and 16 and 48 per cent of children aged between 11 and 16 are prone to seeing online pornography. About 28 per cent of the children found links to porn sites while browsing, while 19 per cent of the children directly searched porn contents. No one has an exact data of what percentage of Indians are watching porn but the number must be very high. There is no harm in saying that this porn industry has done great harm to Indian culture. The worrying trend is the spike in the number of children surfing adult and porn sites. This means that children are moving away from their culture and pornographic content is breeding crime.
You might remember an incident in a Delhi school where young children made a blue film of their friends. Porn films started from Europe and it is common as per Western culture. But it is not acceptable to India’s pure and pristine culture. It is unacceptable in Indian Sanatan and Muslim culture. Meaning, the porn industry is attacking our culture. Even China is troubled by the avalanche of porn films inundating its online platforms. This industry is spreading worldwide and grossing billions of dollars in revenue and the industry is so strong that touching it is no easy task. When such things are present in the name of web series, no one will have to search much for it. Everything is ready-made. Therefore, it is very important now that the government should act strictly. And yes, you also have to care what your children, and you too, are watching?
The author is the chairman, Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former member of Rajya Sabha.
