Despite ban, pornography sells undercover

By Peerzada Arshad Hamid

Non-availability of the pornographic material and the conservative/ religious bent of mind does not allow majority of the people to get fully exposed to pornography, which otherwise directly touches the erotic chords of a person.

The upsurge of 1989 also has a deep impact on the market of pornography here. That was the period when militant outfits in the valley issued diktats pertaining to the closure of wine shops and cinema halls across the valley. Thus automatically saying no to any immorality. Even today one is unable to get the copies of any publication containing pornographic pictures from the newsstands or bookshops.

"Up to 90's we used to sell magazines like Debonair, Chastity, People, Fantasy, etc. These were very good magazines except having some nude pictures. Today we are not selling them, although people ask for the same," says Hilal Ahmad, manager Khan News Agency in Srinagar.

Hilal still remembers when all the magazines with photographs of women were seized by a militant outfit from his stand. That time more than one hundred militant groups were active in the valley.

"Thereafter we stopped the sale of these magazines," he elaborates.

Although with the advent of Internet, going through pornographic matter has become all easy but the valley's cyber cafes have clear instructions pasted on their walls, which reads as, "Pornography is strictly prohibited".

During the year 2000-01, when Internet was a new thing in the valley people used to browse these sites greedily but nowadays only few people access these sites barring teen-agers, who even today are the frequent visitors to these sites.

"I won't allow any one to access these sites in my café. Even couples can not sit together inside the cabin in my Internet café," says Riyaz Ahmad, owner of CNS café, valley's busy and popular Internet café.

"Should you want me to act as a pimp," maintains he, substantiating his disapproval to the people accessing porn sites.
Similar views are shared by the other Internet owners through out the valley saying, "it affects their market."

There have been instances in the past many a times that right wing women's seperatist wing Dukthraan-i-Milat (Daughters of faith) have stormed cyber cafes asking visitors and owners to avoid visiting pornographic sites.

Riyaz now-a-days issues Internet connections via cable to the people interested but his previous argument seems to loose ground. "Earlier I had put a block on all the porn sites but after some time customers complained about problem with some other sites with out naming particular one's. After that I left open all the sites unchecked," he explains.

Despite such restrictions people's curiosity vis-à-vis the porn material seems to be immense, which is reflected by the fact when they are taking the substitutes.

"On an average I sell copies of India Today more than Outlook but whenever Outlook features some bold topics, sales of magazine go high," said Hilal.

Not only this, "Last year I sold 300 copies of India today's Bollywood Special at a price of rupees 25 per copy against the ordinary price of rupees 15 per copy then," he adds.

At the crossroads of all this pornographic VCD's both in english as well as in hindi are also readily available in the market but under the cover. These CD's though not available in the leading stores can be easily purchased or hired from the roadside vendors or small shops selling cassettes and VCD's.

"I sold these VCD to a particular section of people, if I smell some danger I refuse directly thus playing safe, " says a shopkeeper pleading anonymity.

Of late with the coming of Mollie phones passing obscene messages and sending porn clips to one another is a favourite gossip among the users. "Everyday I receive 4-5 such messages from my friends and I pass on the same to others,' says a mobile phone user.