It would appear that sex is something of much fascination for my countrymen; i.e in Mauritius.

Sex which is at the same time a taboo and a subject of jokes & enjoyment among both genders; gets all the limelight at the slightest mention of it. At least that is what I could gather from Facebook posts recently.

The past few days my Facebook feed was flooded with references to video clips of pornographic nature; which apparently featured Mauritians. Google defines “pornography” as follows:

Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate sexual excitement.

I assume from the various posts on Facebook that the video clips were rather leaked than being made explicitly as an act or play in order to stimulate sexual excitement in the viewer. However, it did not prevent Facebook users to share and draw amusement over the short video clips. Pornography or not, it is not much the question to worry. Facebook users should rather worry about something else when sharing such content.

What does the law say about this?

Section 46(h)(i) of the ICT Act 2001 qualifies the following as an offender committing a crime:

Any person who uses an information and communication service, including telecommunication service, for the transmission or reception of a message which is grossly offensive, or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character…

The above thus paints everybody sharing/downloading/viewing the video of pornographic nature which as per the legislation seems to be indecent or obscene, as an offender. Such an offence under the ICT Act 2001, would, on conviction amount to a fine not exceeding Rs 1 million and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years.

So, yes, the law enforcers could hit hard if they happen to take “porn” matters seriously here.

Irony of society

I could see many who after having watched the videos were back on Facebook to preach long posts about modesty & morality to the younger generation. Wait, but, why did you rush to watch a sex video of young lads in the first place? Isn’t that ironic to rush watch the video at the slight mention of sex and then later preach about good conduct? Did you control the urge & curiosity that blinded you to determine whether it would be wrong to watch a possibly leaked video of a girl and guy having intercourse? And yes, to judge them afterwards?

Many others would leave no stone unturned while they’d write long prose of mockery, making sexual connotations at the performance of the boy and use the names of the persons in everyday jokes. I even heard somebody made a music mix using voice extracts from one of the videos.

Nevertheless, among those who looked at things with a more mature reasoning, I came across the videos of two young folks who had the right message for the adults of Facebook. Coralie and this fellow tried to sensitize people about issues that really matter; rather than giving so much attention to leaked videos of couples.