To Curb Rape, India Looks at Banning Porn

In the wake of brutal gang rapes, the rape of a 5-year-old girl, and surging sex crimes, India is looking at banning pornography completely. The country's Supreme Court took up the controversial issue last week, the New York Times reports, after a petition claiming porn leads to sexual violence was submitted to the government. Indian law already bans distributing pornography, but the laws are rarely enforced; this petition calls for even viewing pornography to become a non-bailable offense.

"I believe that watching porn corrupts people, and many of the crimes that happen to women, girls, and children, such as sex-trafficking, are mostly related to pornography," says the lawyer who started the petition. Pornography is increasingly popular in India as the Internet and smartphones become more commonplace, and it may even be more popular there than in many other countries—despite the fact that just a decade ago, the sight of a naked woman in the movies was shocking. But a link between porn and sexual violence is difficult to prove. The Supreme Court has asked a number of government ministries to weigh in on the petition by next week. (More India stories.)