#PornBan: “We are not trying to be a moral policing State”, AG Rohatgi tells SC

The Central government submitted before the Supreme Court that the order to block 857 pornographic sites was a mistake as the government was led into believing that these were websites hosting child pornographic content..The Centre made its submissions through Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi in the petition filed by one Kamlesh Vaswani in 2013 seeking blocking of pornographic websites. The matter was heard by a Bench presided by Chief Justice HL Dattu and comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy..“Our position is that child pornography should not be allowed. All websites with child pornographic content will be blocked. Otherwise, we are not trying to be a moral policing State or anything. We cannot become a totalitarian State when the Prime Minister is pushing for a digital India”, said Rohatgi..Rohatgi made it clear that the State cannot peep into bedroom privacy and find out what an individual does in the confines of his/ her bedroom..He also said that when it comes to children watching pornographic content, self-regulation is the best way out..“Every computer today can have a child lock. Just like a child lock in a car, such a software can regulate child access”, Rohatgi told the court..Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) then raised the issue of dichotomy in the two communications received from the government – one to block 857 websites and the second to disallow only those URLs having child pornographic content..“Website and URLs are different. The government has to give clear instruction on what needs to be blocked”, submitted Arora..Rohatgi then said that this issue can be resolved between the government and the ISPs and the court need not spend its time on it..The Court accepted AG’s submissions and the matter was then adjourned.