New Delhi, Bhasha. The Supreme Court has ruled that possession, viewing of any pornographic material related to children is a crime under the POCSO and IT laws of sexual offenses even if that material is not further disseminated. The court rejected the Madras High Court’s decision on this issue, calling it “extremely bad”.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra on Monday set aside the Madras High Court order which had held that viewing and downloading child pornography is not a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
The apex court said, “We have come to the conclusion that the High Court has committed a serious error in passing the impugned judgment. We have no option left but to set aside this decision and restore the criminal proceedings in the court of Mahila Neeti Mandram (fast track court) in the sessions court of Tiruvallur district….” The court suggested that Parliament should consider amending the law to change the term ‘child pornography’ to “sexual abuse and obscene material involving children”. It asked the courts not to use the term ‘child pornography’. The bench also issued some guidelines on child pornography and its legal consequences.
It said, “We have suggested to the Parliament to amend POCSO…to change the definition of child pornography to ‘sexual abuse of children and obscene material’. We have suggested that an ordinance can be brought.” The apex court gave its verdict on a petition challenging the order of the Madras High Court.
“It is in the elementary nature and character of an offence which provides for punishment in case of possession of any pornographic material involving a child when the same is done with a specific intent without the necessity of any actual transmission etc.”, the court said.
The apex court suggested that schools can play a key role in early identification, intervention and implementation of school-based programmes that educate students about healthy relationships, consent and appropriate behaviour and can help prevent problematic sexual behaviour (PSB). The court said sexual abuse of children is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that has plagued societies across the world and has been a matter of “serious concern” in India.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the petition filed against the Madras High Court’s order, calling it erroneous. The High Court had said that watching and merely downloading child pornography is not a crime under the POCSO Act and the IT Act. The High Court had said that nowadays children are facing a serious problem of watching pornography and society should be “mature enough” to educate them instead of punishing them.