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Journalism of Courage
A Sri Lankan court has ordered the authorities to block access to a dozen websites for allegedly showing pornographic material involving children and women. Colombo Chief Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi ordered the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to restrain 12 websites from showing obscene and sexually explicit material.
The magistrate said the censorship order was issued following a police complaint that some videos contained Sri Lankan women and children and that the free access to the sites corrupted society.
Hapuarachchi observed that the websites in question dealt with pornographic material of children and adults causing irreparable damage to civilised norms of the society.
“The lid on these anti-social websites that eroded treasured values and the culture of the society was blown off by the government Information Department,” says an official release.
The Director General of Information conducted an in-depth study on these sites and accordingly submitted a comprehensive report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa,the release said.
The President had instructed Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremeratne to take tangible and tough measures against the menace.
These included action against capture and posting on the internet photographs and video clips of unsuspecting persons,especially minors and women.
Wickremeratne accordingly made a complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the matter.
The CID probed the matter and detected 12 sites on the internet that indulged in the exposition of sex material of children and adults.
The magistrate also stated that the restraining order would be valid till August 7 and offered provision for any interested party to file objections.
