Women’s Group Wants to Prevent ‘Auto-Drivers’ from Watching Porn

Wait, what exactly is the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association trying to achieve with this class-specific demand?

The Supreme Court has been approached by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) to take measures against pornography viewing. (Photo: iStockphoto)

The Supreme Court has been approached by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) to take measures against pornography viewing. This demand brings to mind a niggling question – who is the Association to decide who gets to view pornography and who doesn’t?

The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had commented on the issue of banning pornography websites in India in 2015 and aptly said:

Such interim orders cannot be passed by this court. Somebody may come to the court and say look I am above 18 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].

HL Dattu, Former Chief Justice of India

However, if for a moment, we assume that this newly submitted affidavit by the SCWLA is a fair demand, there’s an ‘interesting’ clause which makes one wonder what brainstorming at the SCWLA was like.

Among other demands, the affidavit submitted to the Court includes a clause titled “Access on Request”. This clause has sub-points about including VPN servers and gateways, age and identity verification procedures, log in passwords and a payment requiring to be made to the Government of India.

The sub-point in question reads as follows:

This way, it is reflected in the bank accounts, also people like auto-drivers and people belonging to similar social strata will have restricted access to online pornography. Also, it can be a great revenue generating model for the Government.

“...people like Auto-drivers” and people of “such similar strata”? Wait, one second...what?

It’s a little unclear what the affidavit aims to achieve by making such distinctly class-specific assumptions. While the SCWLA awaits the Supreme Court’s verdict on it, the affidavit has already begun to draw attention for all the wrong reasons.

Source: Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association Affidavit