NEW DELHI // Three government ministers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka resigned after they were accused of watching a pornographic video during an assembly session.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Karnataka, ordered the three ministers to resign after television channels aired footage on Tuesday of the men watching the allegedly pornographic video clip while the state assembly proceedings were held.
The ministers denied they were watching pornography, but said they were resigning to save their party from embarrassment.
The governor of Karnataka accepted the resignations.
Television footage showed Laxman Savadi, the minister for cooperation, watching the video clip on his mobile phone and then passing the phone to CC Patil, the minister for women and child development.
The mobile phone belonged to the minister for ports, Krishna Palemar, who also resigned.
Soon after television stations aired the footage, outraged residents of Bangalore, the capital, held protests outside the homes of the three ministers, demanding their resignation.
Mr Savadi insisted he was not viewing pornography, saying he was watching a video clip of a rave party to prepare for a discussion in the assembly.
