Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has ordered internet service licensees to block 63 websites in India that contain pornographic content under the new IT Rules in 2021. The ministry has asked the internet service providers to block all 63 porn websites with immediate effect. Ban Porn Websites or Lose Licence: Uttarakhand High Court Tells Internet Service Providers.

The provision under the new IT Rules 2021 passed by MeitY instructs Internet service providers to disable access or remove any material posted or stored by them which shows individuals in full or partial nudity or shows an individual in any sexual act.

“Kindly find the attached Judicial Magistrate First Class, Court No.6, Pune, Maharashtra order dated 23-09-2022, in the case OW No. 303 of 2022 forwarded by MeitY vide email dated 24.09.2022 for necessary action with respect following sixty-three (63) websites/URLs mentioned in the court order,” added the order.

List of Porn Websites Banned In India:

This is the second time, the government has banned porn sites in India. In 2018, GOI blocked 827 porn sites on the orders of the Uttarakhand High Court. It is worth noting that while the High Court had ordered to ban 857 websites, the government only banned 827 sites and spared 30 others as no porno material was found published on those websites.

The Department of Telecommunications issued a letter instructing internet service providers to disable access to porn sites as the content was against morality and decency as provided in Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Despite the ban on porn sites, users were posting various methods to access blocked URLs via VPN. However, we do not encourage the users to do the same.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 30, 2022 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).