"NEW DELHI - While the police in United States and the United Kingdom keep a special lookout for men hauling rucksacks, in India, especially the metros, they have been peering into people's cell phones.
"The long arm of the law silently watches over the shoulders of people to catch them "red-handed" watching porn, which is not illegal, but any form of promotion by forwarding/hosting (the technical word is multimedia messaging or MMS) can invite a jail sentence and a heavy fine.
"Reports are trickling in from everywhere - outside discos, pubs, bus-stops, pavements, colleges. Some policemen have been brazen enough to catch anybody with a cell phone, which is quite easy as there are more than 50 million users in India, and ask to be shown all files, hidden or not, even though this might be beyond the law itself.
"With other transgressions, such as jumping a red stop light or breaking the speed barrier, a little sweet-talking and a few dollars will see the transgressor go free.
"But when it comes to an obsession that has gripped a huge number of mobile phone users in the county - to surf or download porn on the mobile phone - the police are going about their duties with exceptional zeal, and with an unaccustomed determination to view all of the "evidence"."
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