Pornography in India
In India, watching or possessing pornographic materials is legal. However, the production, publication, or distribution of such materials is illegal. Pornography is available in print magazines, but is mainly consumed using the internet. This consumption is increasing with the increased prevalence of smartphones and the internet. Despite the increased access, public discourse and attitudes on pornography remain muted and a taboo in many parts of India.
Studies have found that print media is less widely accessible than internet media in India. A randomized survey of 96 random vendors, such as video stores, mobile downloads/recharge stores and cybercafés, in Haryana, India found that 17% displayed pornography openly, 34% displayed it semi-openly, and 49% kept it hidden. It is possible that cultural taboos and legal issues (such as those described below) make it more desirable to view pornography in India through internet mediums, such as computers or smartphones, for more privacy.
Internet pornography has become very popular in India with up to 70% of total traffic from porn websites. It has become a major portion of traffic and source of data revenue for telecom companies. A popular porn site released viewership data and national capital Delhi recorded up to 40% of all traffic.
One self reporting survey found that 63% of youths in urban areas such as Haryana reported watching pornography, with 74% accessing it through their mobile phones. As smartphone and internet access in India continues to increase, more people will be able to privately view pornography. Quartz has have found that 50% of Indian IP addresses accessed popular pornography websites on mobile phones. Online erotic comics have also become popular in India as the internet becomes more readily available to the common citizen.
Prior to the explosion of the internet, soft-core pornographic movies were popularly consumed in India. Depending on one's definition of soft-core pornography, it is arguable that many Hindi films show mild softcore pornography using songs and scenes designed to sexually arouse their viewers.
The law as it pertains to pornography or "obscenity" is laid down in Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, which was amended by the IT Act to include electronic data.
The Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) Chapter XI Paragraph 67, the Government of India specifies online pornography as a punishable offense. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 section 293 also makes the sale of obscene objects to minors illegal. Section 67 of the IT Act deals with "publishing obscene information in electronic form". This law has been interpreted to criminalize the posting of pornographic content online. However, accessing "obscene" content privately is not illegal. The IT Act was amended by the Parliament on 2008, and Section 67B was inserted which criminalizes browsing, downloading, creation, and publishing child pornorgraphy. Child anime porn is also explicitly criminalized.
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