The Supreme Court had last week asked the government to respond on a plea to block pornography websites on the Internet, following a plea that these are a major cause of crime against women. Milind Deora, the minister of state of communications and IT, among the ministries responsible for enforcing any such ban, has told NDTV that experts have to be consulted on whether porn is provoking sexual violence.  "I think we need some consensus as a society if such material (porn) causes violence," he said.

But with many websites, including some of India’s leading news sites run by big media organisations, showing content and pop-ups that can safely be called soft erotica, is any blanket ban on porn practically possible? Should such websites move such ‘provocative’ content from their home page and put it in a separate section to ensure people are not ‘forced’ to even look at them unwittingly?