Raj Kundra’s adult film racket: What does our law think of pornography?
Current Affairs
Social media is abuzz with Raj Kundra being taken into police custody over his involvement in publishing pornographic content on Hotshots, an app from a company he owned.
What drew people’s curiosity is the case in itself which raised a couple of questions - Is pornography illegal in India? What’s the thin line according to our judiciary that differentiates erotica and porn?
But first, a bit of case history
In February 2021, the Mumbai police arrested five people after a woman reported being lured into porn by the company changing the script on the day of the shoot and demanding that she pay for the cost of arranging the shoot if she chose to walk away.
Among the various apps that came under scrutiny in this investigation, Kundra’s name was linked to Hotshots and he was subsequently arrested.
Is pornography really illegal in India?
Well, let’s get this out of the way - watching porn in the confines of one’s house, in a private space is perfectly legal, unless of course, they are watching/downloading child pornography. What however is illegal is publishing or transmitting any material which has sexually explicit acts or obscene material in it.
The laws that address pornography in India are Sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act. There is also the 'Indecent Representation of Women Act’ which prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or other publishing materials if it is likely to corrupt or injure the public morality or morals.
Porn ban - Remember that happened?
A ban on watching porn was first attempted in 2015. Owing to a huge public outcry over violation of the Right to Freedom and Expression, it was partially revoked, banning only sites hosting child pornography.
However, in 2018, when a rapist of a 15-year-old girl stated that he raped her after watching porn, ISPs like Jio, Airtel and Vodafone were asked to block 827 porn websites. This did not change much for the public & the adult sites as they figured out multiple loopholes ranging from VPN to mirroring websites to access porn.
Back to Raj Kundra’s case: The defence lawyer’s argument
Kundra’s lawyer put forth the argument that the laws around pornography only talk about ‘sexually explicit' or ‘obscene' content, whereas the content on Hotshots is merely vulgar and that there is no actual sexual intercourse being portrayed.
A quick dictionary check reveals:
Obscene: (of the description of sexual matters) offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency.
Vulgar: making explicit and offensive references to sex or bodily functions; coarse and rude.
While it will be interesting to see this case unravel and witness legal arguments from both sides dance around English grammar, it cannot be denied that the verbiage around what makes adult-only content pornographic is extremely murky. Also to be noted is the fact that the illegality of porn is judged by its potential of corrupting public morality.
Legal course of action is unclear
The origin of the Raj Kundra case lies in the fact that several women complained of being duped into porn or of being exploited. As far as we can see, there is no protocol to address these complaints in the context of pornography.
Amidst all this sensationalization of a Bollywood celebrity scandal, the legal course to address this exploitation that the porn industry is notorious for, still seems very unclear.
Tokyo Olympics: Meet the contenders
Sports
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 finally commenced yesterday after the event had to be postponed last year because of the pandemic. This time, India is represented by a record 119 athletes - 67 male and 52 female who are looking to bag a double-digit medal haul for the first time ever. Let’s see who the contenders are:
1. Deepika Kumari
Archery: Recurve
After failing to win a medal at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, the current world No. 1 archer from India has been in rock-solid form for the past two years. Her phenomenal skill with the bow and arrow was on display at the Archery World Cup this year where she grabbed three gold medals ousting her opponents with relative ease. Will she be third time lucky at the Olympics?
2. PV Sindhu
Badminton: Women’s singles
The 26-year old shuttler became a household name in India after grabbing the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics (the only Indian woman to win a silver medal). She followed up that performance by clinching the BWF World Championship title in 2019. Sindhu is carrying the hopes of billions of Indians and is definitely a force to reckon with.
3. Indian Men’s Hockey team
It’s been more than 40 years now since the Indian Hockey team won a medal at the Olympics after their 1980 Gold medal in Moscow. But this time around fortunes may favour the Men in Blue as this team led by veteran Manpreet Singh has beaten the best teams in the world on their journey to Tokyo. Will the Indian Hockey team finally turn the blues into Gold?
4. Manu Bhakar
Shooting: Air pistol 10m Individual+Mixed team and 25m Individual
One of India’s most promising child prodigies, the 19-year old Manu Bhaker has already achieved what many end up dreaming for their entire lives. A gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in 2018 and two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games is a testament to her unbounded talent. Competing in three disciplines at the Tokyo Olympics, Bhaker will be aiming to win big.
5. Saurabh Chaudhary
Shooting: Air pistol 10m Individual and Mixed team
With 8 gold medals at ISSF World Cups and the 2018 Asian Games gold medal under his kitty, this 19-year old shooter is the real deal. The Meerut-born shooter has been in exemplary form in 2021 and will be pairing up with Manu Bhaker for the Air Pistol 10m Mixed team event. He will be looking to overturn Indian Shooting Team’s disappointing display at the Rio Olympics.
6. Bajrang Punia
Wrestling: 65 kg
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award-winning grappler has been in an unbelievable patch of form having finished in the top three of every international event he has competed in since 2017. After grabbing the World No. 1 ranking in Rome in March this year, Bajrang Punia is one of the favourites to win the Gold medal at Tokyo in the 65 Kg category.
7. Mary Kom
Boxing: 51 Kg
The Magnificent Mary, one of the most celebrated female boxers in the world, could have undoubtedly achieved more success at the Olympics had Women’s boxing been introduced earlier. But even at the age of 38, the Manipur-born boxer will be looking to better her bronze medal-winning heroics from the 2012 London Olympics, against much younger opponents.
8. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
Weight lifting: 49 Kg
Although the only Indian weightlifting contender in this Olympics, Mirabai Chanu is not to be taken lightly. The current world no. 2, and among only the only three competitors to have lifted above 200 kg in her weight category, Chanu will be looking to bring glory home.
Players to watch out for
Here are some of the other Indian athletes to watch out for at the Tokyo Olympics 2021:
Dutee Chand (100m and 200m Sprint)
Neeraj Chopra ( Javelin)
Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling: 53 Kg )
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina (Tennis: Women’s double)
Amit Panghal ( Boxing: 52 Kg)
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