16YEAROLD KOTA STUDENT JOINS BATTLE AGAINST PORN

A Class 12 student from Kota has become party to a petition filed against pornographic websites in the Supreme Court.

Aakash Narwala, a 16-yearold student at a private school here, claimed that he had launched a crusade against such websites after seeing his schoolmates get addicted to them – much to the detriment of their academic progress.

Last week, he filed an affidavit seeking permission to join Indore lawyer Kamlesh Vaswani’s public interest litigation against Internet pornography in the apex court.

The student, who also claims to be a social activist, runs an NGO called Rape-Free India that spreads awareness on sex crimes through street shows and educational programmes. “Pornographic videos and images objectify women, and they are easily accessible through the Internet. I have observed children of my age get addicted to pornography, spurring them to commit sexual crimes such as rape and molestation,” his affidavit read.

Narwala’s affidavit stated that he not only wants to safeguard women from crimes such as rape but also prevent adolescents from committing heinous sexual offences.

“I decided to launch the RapeFree India movement after meeting a juvenile who had raped a minor about four years ago. He was feeling guilty about it. I even sat on dharna in New Delhi to demand a ban on porn sites a couple of years ago,” he said.

Uploading and sharing of porn is outlawed under the Indecent Representation of Women’s (Prohibition) Act-1986, Information and Technology Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences and several sections of the Indian Penal Code.

NARWALA SAYS HE WANTS TO PREVENT ADOLESCENTS FROM COMMITTING HEINOUS SEXUAL OFFENCES