Hi guys,need your help here.I know its a bit of an embarrasing question but nevertheless , I have to ask.I am flying in to India fron Newyork JFK on Emirates.I am recently married,just 1 month back so I want to take back some pornographic videos/DVD's to India as they are not available there.So, i wanted to know how the customs officials are in India?Do they search all the bags or do they pass them through the x-ray machine or do they just let us collect our baggage from the belt?I will be flying in to Hyderabad.Also if they catch us with this porno stuff,are they cool or will it be a abig problem.Please help,I will be really thankful to you.[The travails of a newly married young man+++==\\\]

Waiting for some kind soul to help me out.THANKS.

Sure. Get rid of the pornography. You'll have a better marriage without it. Spend the money on flowers instead.

Can you mail them instead? Or else put them on a computer or hard drive and burn it in India.

Why am I not surprised that our pornophile OP felt the need to bump this up after a mere 3 hours? Impatience...

Ha! Maybe he and his wife like to enjoy it together.

Just don't get caught with your pants down....

I went looking a little into the subject, and found that Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code prohibits the possession of "obscene" material (of which pornography is likely to fall), under penalty of imprisonment (up to 2 years) and fine (of up to 2,000 rupees) - for the first offense.

Regardless of how we feel about the subject, I'm sure that none of us wants to help the OP possibly find his way into jail. For that reason, I suggest the thread be closed.

Mike

... unmarked/unlabelled/mislabeled or marked DVDs/CDs not packaged are generally not examined on a player by Indian customs. Of course if you have more than a dozen or two, there is no guarantee that they won't ask why and what you have.

Be warned that there you should consider the possible restrictions on the import/export of such material.

Foreigners bringing in a "stash" generally don't end up in jail. They may end up losing their material or (in BOM) be asked for a bribe (which I strongly advise against even considering).

But remember you are also transiting other countries (i.e., the UAE). And despite how "liberal" Dubai is, you have to also consider the regulations and likelihood of prosecution under the laws of the UAE since they can check if they so desire. (And a few weeks back, at the encouragement of British intelligence, a couple of Brits were abused by the brutal Emirates security forces in order to "facilitate" a British investigation.)

If you really want to bring it into the country, Just replace the Dvd case of the Porno�s or put the DVD into a Music CD case� Better yet Burn them to your laptop hard drive and make a DVD when you get to India�

Is that so Hard?

While such may be the case, there is no indication that the OP is non-citizen of India. Are the authorities more likely to push for a harsher punishment to an Indian citizen for a violation of these laws?

Mike

Yes -- with some exceptions countries of which I could name.

Regarding "harsher punishment": even IF an Indian citizen, effectively the "harsher punishment" for heterosexually-oriented "obscene" material means that such a person will be harassed for a bribe more so than most all non-Indian citizens. (For many purposes, NRIs, technically- or colloquially-speaking, are treated rather like "foreigners" .... especially for various purposes vis-a-vis low level Indian government officials).

Ending up in Tihar jail/prison for DVDs of heterosexually-oriented pornography imported from abroad for personal use is highly unlikely in 2005. And if this regards material on a laptop computer when the laptop computer is declared, then the likelihood of landing in any kind of serious trouble (i.e., that lasts for more than a few hours) is slim to nil.

I'd be more concerned about the transit through DXB than the customs in HYD.

Didnt India Jail the Ceo or someone from Ebay India over Porn?

Yes - it was over a violation of India's Information Technology Act, which prohibits the electronic transmission of pornography with the intent to sell it.

Mike

Do we know if the OP just want to bring Porn into India to Sell?