Did the government of India slyly ban porn sites?

It appears that several porn sites are currently inaccessible in India through various internet service providers (ISPs). Some users, those who used MTNL, BSNL and ACT ISPs reported that were getting either blank pages or messages which said: "The site has been blocked as per the instructions of Competent Authority." Meanwhile, others who were using services like Airtel and Tata Photon reported no such problem.

The observation that several porn sites were unavailable started a conversation on Twitter and a thread on Reddit. The sites seem to be opening fine for ISPs like Airtel and Tata Photon. One user reported that: “The site has been blocked as per the instruction of the Competent Authority.” According to a piece in Legally India, which used a Delhi broadband connection provided by Spectranet, 11 out of the 13 most popular porn sites were not accessible. On the other hand, most websites seem to be working fine when they are being accessed form mobile phones.

Earlier Chief Justice of India HL Dattu had observed that banning the watching of porn at home would be “a violation of Article 21”, the right to personal liberty. (Read: Why the ban on porn is futile)

Dattu had earlier said that such orders couldn't be passed. He had said: “Such interim orders cannot be passed by this court. Somebody can come to the court and say 'Look, I am an adult 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) of the Constitution.' Yes the issue is serious and some steps need to be taken. The Centre has to take a stand, let us see what stand the Centre will take.” The remarks came after lawyer Vijay Panjwani, representing an Indore-based advocate Kamlesh Vaswani, had put forward a PIL seeking the ban of all porn sites.

Here's how Twitter reacted to the news: 

I have of course never been to a porn site in my whole life. But I fully wholeheartedly oppose any Govt move to ban them

— IndiaSpeaks (@IndiaSpeaksPR) August 1, 2015

Indian guys after they heard about #PornBan pic.twitter.com/yfkdIQh0U4

— Champ from Westeros (@BolshoyBooze) August 1, 2015

Ban homosexuality. Ban porn. Ban certain words in movies. Ban alcohol. Ban beef. Ban everything not in our culture. Hello dark age!

— Vivek Tejuja (@vivekisms) August 1, 2015

Ban on Tobacco - Lol Ban on Eggs - Lol Ban on Beef - Lol Ban on Porn - THIS IS SPARTA !!

— Shaktimaan Thackeray (@Madan_Chikna) August 1, 2015

No religion, no political party, no leader can unite this country like the ban on porn can.

— TheBlackMagicWoman (@aanchalator) August 1, 2015

*Parliament* Pic 1 : Before porn ban Pic 2 : After porn ban pic.twitter.com/Bd0ugHUuM7

— AJ Pluto (@AJumpper) August 1, 2015

Someone must remind the current government that they were elected to run the nation not become moral science teacher #pornban

— অগ্নিভ নিয়োগী (@Aagan86) August 1, 2015

Dear @narendramodi ji, As a bachelor, how can you allow #PornBan

— The Babama (@Me_Haresh) August 1, 2015

India has come together after the porn ban. Um. That doesn't sound right.

— Oxblood Ruffin 3.0 (@OxbloodRuffin) August 2, 2015

Watch this space for more updates.

For more updates, you can also read Apar Gupta's FB post on the issue which was written on April 3: