The Legislature Committee for Women and Child Development, headed by Seema Masuti, has recommended a ban on pornographic material circulated via MMS on mobile phones and on the Internet.
The 19-member committee studied issues pertaining to violence against women, including rape, domestic violence, dowry harassment, exhibition of pornographic material, child marriage and Devadasi system, and submitted its report with recommendations to the Speaker and Chairman of the Legislative Assembly and Council on March 8, 2013. Complaining about the portrayal of women in films, especially in a rape scene and “exposure” by actors, the committee favoured tightening of existing norms of the Censor Board and asked the government to make it mandatory for television channels, which show crime related to women, to telecast details of punishment under the law for committing such a crime.