What Raj Kundra's Arrest Tells Us About the Legality of Porn in India

Raj Kundra, a businessman who is married to Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, made headlines recently after he was arrested for allegedly being a 'key conspirator' in a case pertaining to pornographic films. He has been accused of distributing adult films that were being shot in the country through an app called 'HotShots' but with his arrest, the case has also opened the Pandora's box of the porn industry itself. The porn industry, which is a billion-dollar industry worldwide, has always existed in the Indian society. However, even though watching porn in private spaces isn’t deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, there have been attempts by the government to ban porn websites occasionally. While the illegality of making and distributing pornography in India has not affected its viewership, which in fact has only shot up since the onset of the pandemic, on the downside, there are also allegations of porn rackets and adult film actors being exploited in this industry which functions in secrecy. And the arrest of Raj Kundra has resurfaced the long-drawn debate on the legality of porn in India. In today’s podcast, we will discuss Kundra’s arrest as well as the legal provision pertaining to the production and consumption of porn in India. Host and Producer: Himmat Shaligram Guest: Gehna Vasisth, Indian actor, Karan Tripathi, Legal Consultant, The Quint, and Harish Iyer, equal rights activist and columnist at The Quint. Editor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices