Jan 26, Kathmandu: A porn website has been found to be operating openly in the Nepali domain dotnp (.np). A pornographic site was seen operating in the domain called Kand.com.np.

This website, which was registered in 2020, contains obscene stories, audio, and video content and also sells and distributes porn content through it. Before that, this website was operated under a different name, says its owner Bikas Gurung.

He claims that he took that domain name after giving him official citizenship. "Registering a domain in a person's name requires citizenship," he says, "We have completed the entire process and taken the domain."

Porn websites are banned in Nepal. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has imposed such a ban based on section 121 of the Civil Crimes (Code) Act 2017 AD.

The section prohibits the exchange, publication, and transmission of sexually explicit material. However, no government agency has noticed the website running on a Nepali domain. The operator himself is aware of this.

He says, "This is an old domain. There is a warning displayed on it. However, recently it is illegal to do this in Nepal." "Now the law of Nepal has banned such websites. It was not like that before," he adds.

Gurung has been operating the site despite having been given a warning despite knowing that it was illegal. The Nepal Telecommunication Authority said that it has no information about the website.

"We are shutting down such websites, they keep changing domains," says Achutanand Mishra, co-spokesperson of the authority, "now we will shut down this website immediately."

How was it possible to get such a domain name?

No official documents are required to get an international domain extension .com. However, to get a dot com dotnp extension, you have to submit an official document.

According to the Nepali Domain Registry Mercantile, a certificate of company registration is required to get a domain name for a company. Similarly, citizenship is required to get a personal domain name.

Vikas Gurung's relative's name is Kanda Gurung. He said that he took the domain name based on the same citizenship.

The employee of Mercantile said that the domain name taken for personal purposes was misused. On condition of anonymity, he says, "We provide the domain name only after checking all the details.

Maybe the spelling made a difference more than the fake name. However, if this domain name contains obscene content, it is being misused." After providing the domain name, Mercantile only checks whether the domain name is active or not said the employee.