Adult Sites on .IN or .CO.IN extensions

[Gaurish]

As we all know Porn is legally banned in INDIA.

Wanted to know the status of Adult sites hosted outside india on offshore servers using an .IN or .co.in address.

 

[Jeff]

I wouldn't recommend it. Technically, I don't think it's banned, but it's definitely a risky step. I'd stick with a .com for something like that.

We did an interview of a lawyer here:
Indian Domain Law - Interview with Pravin Anand : INForum.in Blog

This is what he says:

Are there any restrictions on registering Indian domains?

The Government of India some years back established the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-IN, as a means to monitor all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic from India. Currently, there is no established law as to which websites the government censors, or when. In the past, mainly pornographic and anti-establishment political websites have been blocked.

Adult web sites are restricted as being against public morals and decency. Most registrars and hosts will not register or host web sites which contain adult contents including pornography, warez sites etc. However the discretion as to what the “adult” material is has been left entirely to the registrars and hosts of web sites.

 

[Gaurish]

However the discretion as to what the “adult” material is has been left entirely to the registrars and hosts of web sites.

do you see any registrars deleting Domains due to Adult content?

 

[tansks]

What about a store just to selling sex toy? Is that consider adult content?

 

[Jeff]

do you see any registrars deleting Domains due to Adult content?

No I haven't. However, I've seen the Registry itself lock the domain.

 

[Jeff]

What about a store just to selling sex toy? Is that consider adult content?

Interesting question. According to this article:
Hookers out, sex toys in

"The sale of sex toys is a punishable offence under Section 293 (Sale of obscene objects) of the IPC and punishment varies from one year to seven years with a fine of up to Rs 5,000," explained Senior Inspector Rajendra Joshi of the Social Service Branch.

 

[Ceres]

I just read that one of Rediff's directors is seeking to quash a criminal complaint involving section 292 of the Indian Penal Code (selling and distributing obscene material).

I don't know much about the complaint except that it was filed in June 2000 by a law student, who alleged that Rediff.com disseminates obscene material via the search engine linked to the Rediff website.

I haven't seen any court documents, but the domain in question seems to be Rediff.com (Rediff.in does redirect to the .com). Also, I don't think Rediff.com servers are not even hosted in India. Are these two points irrelevant if it's an Indian company involved?

 

[Jeff]

Nice find. I wish there had been more details in the article.

In a way I guess it's good that the case has taken 9 years so far.

My understanding of the article is that the same arguments would apply against any search engine, which would show how ridiculous they are.

Are these two points irrelevant if it's an Indian company involved?

An Indian company can be charged under Indian law - that doesn't seem very surprising.