Being caught surfing porn online is, perhaps, a most embarrassing moment for many. But how does one explain lawmakers caught in the act, that too in office?
The most recent incident involves Karnataka cooperation minister Lakshman Savadi, who was taped watching a clip on a mobile phone.
The minister was reportedly watching the clip while the assembly was engaged in a heated debate regarding some miscreants hoisting the Pakistan flag in a village in northern Karnataka a few weeks back.
Interestingly, there are others like Savadi who have been caught red-handed.
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
Senator Mike Bennett, United States
Former Florida Senator Mike Bennett of the Republican Party was caught accessing pornographic images, as his colleagues were discussing the bill on anti-abortion.
A media reporter, who was in the room, managed to capture Bennett's reckless action. In the 28-second video, Bennett was seen looking at the pictures showing a number of topless women on his laptop.
Bennett defended himself, saying that he accidentally accessed pornographic sites. He claimed to have an electronic mail containing a link that automatically directed to a porn site.
"I just sat there, bored as they debated the abortion bill. I get an e-mail and open it. I was really shocked. I then tried to close it immediately."
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
Lawmaker Arafinto, Indonesia
In November 2011, the Indonesian lawmaker was caught watching sexually explicit videos on his computer during a parliamentary debate.
He was caught watching the video clip for several minutes as fellow legislators debated plans to build a new parliament building.
The scandal transfixed the predominantly Muslim nation since a local photojournalist filmed Arifinto, a member of the staunchly Islamic Prosperous Justice Party, gazing at the downloaded porn sites.
The blurred images were published on the front pages of newspapers almost daily, and reaction set alight social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
MP Shane Jones, United Kingdom
In June 2010, Labour MP Shane Jones was forced to admit charging adult movies to his taxpayer funded credit card.
The Labour MP paid back about $5,000 (about Rs 2.5 lakh) worth of personal spending charged to his ministerial credit card, including the x-rated movies and shopping trips for sports gear and CDs.
About 20 hotel movies were charged to his ministerial credit card.
Asked how he could possibly have thought that putting pornographic movies on a ministerial credit card was appropriate, he replied, "I just lost the plot."
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
Per Asklund, Sweden
In November 2011, this high-ranking local politician from western Sweden was found to have made thousands of visits to numerous pornographic websites from his office computer.
While Asklund, member of the Moderate Party, denied purchasing sex, an examination of his office computer by the municipality's IT department revealed that the politician spent a fair amount of his working day visiting pornographic websites and sites offering escort services.
According to the investigation, carried out at the behest of the local daily Hallandsposten, Asklund visited "thousands" of the sites from his computer at his municipality office.
He then allegedly tried to hide his tracks by reformatting the computer's hard drive.
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
State minister Paul McLeay, Australia
In September 2010, former New South Wales Ports and Waterways Minister Paul McLeay had to resign from his post after admitting that he used a state parliament computer to trawl online gambling and adult websites.
The episode left him ''humiliated and embarrassed''. He, however, did not reveal details of the sites he visited.
His use of the sites was 'not a one-off' but he said all of the material he had viewed was legal.
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
Minister Chua Soi Lek, Malaysia
In January 2008, Malaysia's former health minister resigned after admitting that he and a female friend appeared in a secretly filmed sex video.
A one-hour DVD circulated anonymously showed Chua Soi Lek, a married man with three children, performing sexual acts with the woman in a hotel room.
Chua, 61, admitted that he was the man in the video and described the woman as a "personal friend." He refused to elaborate.
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Politicians CAUGHT surfing porn in office
William Bantom
Country: South Africa
In September 2000, former mayor of the South African city of Cape Town, William Bantom, resigned after being caught downloading pornography from the internet -- for a second time.
The 54-year-old father of two was asked to resign after being caught watching pornographic sites, despite having been given an earlier warning.
Reverend Bantom headed the Cape Town municipality since the first post-apartheid local government elections in 1995 and was the city's first black mayor.
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