Lucknow Press
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (September 23) has considered both viewing and keeping child pornography a crime. Overturning the decision of the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court said in its decision that downloading and keeping material related to child pornography is a crime. Along with this, the court has advised the Central Government to change the POCSO Act and replace the word Child Pornography with Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitative Material (CSAEM).
Expressing concern over child pornography, a bench of Supreme Court CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said that it is necessary to strike a balance between technical reality and legal protection of children. The bench said that calling child pornography as Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitative Material (CSAEM) will create a new approach to fight against the exploitation of children in the legal framework and society. The bench has given this decision while hearing the petition of NGO- Just Right for Children Alliance. The bench had reserved its decision on 19 April.
In this petition, the decision of the Madras High Court was challenged, in which the High Court did not consider downloading and viewing child pornography a crime. The Madras High Court had said in its decision that downloading or viewing child pornography on one’s personal electronic device is not a crime. The High Court did not consider it a crime under the POCSO Act and the IT Act.
Let us tell you that the Madras High Court had dismissed a case against a person saying that he had only downloaded child porn and did not send it to anyone. Justice Venkatesh had said that just watching child porn cannot be considered a crime under POCSO and IT Act. According to him, if children are used in pornography, then a case can be filed under the POCSO Act. On the other hand, when someone just watches child porn without being directly involved, then it is not right to file a criminal case against him.
