Bangladesh Seeks Law to Criminalize Pornography

The cabinet of Bangladesh has approved a law that will imprison people convicted of producing or selling pornographic material for up to ten years prison and also subject them to a $6000 fine.

The decision is believed to be the first law designated specifically against the spread of porn through the internet and mobile phone technology in the extremely conservative Muslim country.

BBC reported that the legislation will likely be passed by Dhaka’s parliament.

The legislation appears to have emerged following the revelation of sex tapes that featured female celebrities in Bangladesh. The women in question claimed that the videos purporting to show them performing sex acts were either “doctored” or filmed without their permission in order to destroy their reputations, BBC noted.

The Bangladeshi prime minister’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said that pornography has spread like a “disease” in Bangladesh and that the law is primarily designed to protect women and children

But not everyone in Bangladesh is happy with the new proposed law, citing that it would be very hard to enforce and would set a precedent for the government interfering in public morality. Bangladesh is, after all, a nominal democracy.

Shorful Alam, the head of a major IT firm in the country, Aamra Network Ltd., told BBC: The government has the technology to track the internet addresses of the suspects. But those involved in the porn business tend to be smarter and a step ahead of the officials.