Response
To import and sell sex toys in India, you have to follow pattern of Discreet Advertising & as such, you have to provide information of your products and services to those only which have searched about procuring such kind of goods and services on net. Doing this Business offline is not worthy as you’ll be imposed with several harsh regulations compared to the online where regulations are quite relaxed.
Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code prevents the sale of any material that is obscene in India. However, online shopping websites have been selling adult products and Sex Toys openly and people have even been buying them in large numbers. So there is no exact explanation if selling sex toys in India is banned.
Sexual wellness categorises condoms, lubes and gels as legal to be sold over the top pharmacies in the country, but selling sex toys is not. A retailer can import the products and even sell them if he or she manages to ensure
that the packaging, the marketing content, and the literature is not offensive to anyone.However, the concern arises only in the manner in which these sex toys/ apparels and related products are displayed and exhibited for sale in India,. “Under Indian law, obscenity is an offence. Therefore, if any of these items are advertised and/ or
displayed for sale using any obscene pictures, graphics, display mechanism, or otherwise in any obscene manner, then there could be a cause for concern.”
The problem is one of definition. Neither the Indian Penal Code (‘IPC’) nor the Information Technology Act, 2000 (‘IT Act’), define what ‘Obscenity’ is.
“Section 292 of the IPC and section 67 of the IT Act, (which corresponds to section 292 of the IPC) explain ‘obscenity’ to mean anything, which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest, or if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons,”
“The fact that the content of such a product/ article is ‘obscene’, [means] it will fall certainly within the purview of Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code and hence [it is] illegal in India,”
Reference: Section 292 in The Indian Penal Code
[292. Sale, etc., of obscene books, etc
(1) For the purposes of sub-section (2), a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure or any other object, shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the pruri_ent interest or if its effect, or (where it comprises two or more distinct items) the effect of any one of its items, is, if taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt person, who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it.]
WhoeverÑ
(a) sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever, or
(b) imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of the purposes aforesaid, or knowing or having reason to believe that such object will be sold, let to hire, distributed or publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or
(c) takes part in or receives profits from any business in the course of which he knows or has reason to believe that any such obscene objects are for any of the purposes aforesaid, made, produced, purchased, kept, imported, exported, conveyed, publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or
(d) advertises or makes known by any means whatsoever that any person is engaged or is ready to engage in any act which is an offence under this section, or that any such obscene object can be procured from or through any person, or
(e) offers or attempts to do any act which is an offence under this section, shall be punished 263 [on first conviction with im_prisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, and, in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, and also with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees].
264 [(Exception) ÑThis section does not extend toÑ
(a) any book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, repre_sentation or figureÑ (i) the publication of which is proved to be justified as being for the public good on the ground that such book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation or figure is in the interest of science, literature, art or learning or other objects of general concern, or (ii) which is kept or used bona fide for religious purposes;
(b) any representation sculptured, engraved, painted or otherwise represented on or inÑ (i) any ancient monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monu_ments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (24 of 1958), or (ii) any temple, or on any car used for the conveyance of idols, or kept or used for any religious purpose.
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