'The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 – a law which was enacted to curb lewd depiction of women in advertisements and publications – will soon be amended with harsher penalties.

First conviction will invite three years of imprisonment and a fine ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Second-time offenders may be jailed for two to seven years, and asked to pay a fine between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

Sending pornographic multimedia messages and emails may invite a jail term for a maximum period of three years.

The law will cover audio-visual media and material in electronic form, and police officials of the rank of inspector or above will be allowed to carry out search and seizure operations in complaints.

Priti Nair, director at advertising agency Curry Nation, said the development was “quite worrying”.

This will open a Pandora’s box as now you can misconstrue anything to be indecent.

There should be guidelines or parameters that define “indecent”, else the amendments can, at best, be described as “blurry”. What constitutes “indecent” is subjective.

The industry also opposed the idea of gender discrimination regarding “indecency”. Mahesh Murthy said under the law male nudity was acceptable while an informational video on childbirth could be banned.

[Mint]