DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangaladesh’s highest court today ordered regulators to block all accessible porn sites for six months, according to a report.
The secretaries of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Law and Information Ministries, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and all mobile phone operators were asked to execute the judicial order in the South Asian country, which is to the east of India and next to Nepal. Bangladesh has a population straddling 165 million.
Justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Md Ashraful Kamal issued the order after hearing a petition on Monday.
The court also issued a rule asking them to explain as to why websites with erotic content should not be blocked permanently.
The order stems from a petition made by attorney Humayun Kabir Pallab, who told the court that a recent survey showed that 77 percent of students in the capital city of Dhaka were addicted to porn.
Pallab — who represents petitioners the Law and Life Foundation, Md Rasel Hossain of Chandpur and Khairul Hasan Sarkar of Mymensingh — said that uncensored porn over the web impairs the moral and mental health of under 18s.