New Delhi: The Supreme Court has overturned the Madras High Court’s decision on child pornography videos. The Supreme Court said that downloading, watching and keeping vulgar videos of children is a crime. In fact, a few days ago, the Madras High Court dismissed a case saying that watching vulgar videos of children is not a crime under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) and Information Technology (IT) Act.
Supreme Court gave suggestion to the center
After which the decision of the Madras High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court. Hearing on which, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala quashed the decision of the recent decision of the Madras High Court. The Supreme Court also suggested the Parliament to amend the term ‘child pornography’ with the term ‘child sexual abuse and derogatory material’ and requested the Center to bring an ordinance to bring the amendment. The court has directed the courts not to use the term ‘child pornography’.
What is the whole matter
In the present case, based on a letter received by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crimes against Women and Children), a case was registered against the accused for downloading vulgar and pornographic material of children in his mobile. During investigation, the mobile phone was seized and forensic examination was conducted, which confirmed that the mobile phone contained two files containing child pornography involving juvenile boys. The court took cognizance of the offence under Section 67B of the IT Act and Section 14(1) of the POCSO Act.
The accused had approached the High Court seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings. The Madras High Court’s decision was based on several key points: the accused had only downloaded the material for private viewing, it was not published or broadcast, and it was argued that mere downloading and viewing of child pornography is not an offence under Section 67-B.
