Police in India’s eastern state of Orissa rounded up about 200 people watching a porn movie in a cinema hall and made them do 10 sit-ups in public as punishment, a report said on Monday.
Parents of teenagers under 17 caught in the net were ordered to come watch the punishment, while all the culprits were made to take a public vow never to watch a sleazy movie again, the Hindustan Times daily said.
Sanjeev Panda, police chief in the Balasore district where the movie was being shown, said he was trying a new approach in a bid to stop the screening of pornography, which is illegal in India.
“Earlier, we acted against the [cinema] hall owners and their staff. But it failed to effectively check screening of obscene movies. So, we decided to crack down on the audience,” Panda said.
Similar punishment was meted out to about 400 people watching porn at a hall in Orissa’s Rourkela district, the paper said.
Four reels of film were seized and three staff members taken into custody.
After the sit-ups and public pledge, they were let off. — AFP