Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has made a major comment on whether watching child porn is a crime or not. The Supreme Court has said that merely storing material related to child porn is a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO Act). The Supreme Court made it clear that watching and downloading child pornography is a crime under the POCSO Act and IT Act.
Apart from this, the Supreme Court has suggested the Parliament to bring a law to amend the POCSO Act, in which the term ‘child pornography’ has been asked to be replaced with “Child Sexual Exploitative and Abusive Material”. The Supreme Court says that the central government can bring an ordinance to this effect until the amendment is implemented. The Supreme Court has directed all the courts not to use the term ‘child pornography’.
What is the whole matter?
The Supreme Court has overturned the Madras High Court’s decision in this regard. The High Court had quashed a case filed against a person saying that he only kept child porn with himself. He did not forward it. Many organizations working for children’s rights had approached the SC against this order.
The Supreme Court has also instructed all courts not to use the term child pornography. The Supreme Court clarified that just downloading, watching or keeping a video related to sexual crime against children in your electronic gadget is also a crime. The Supreme Court said that it will be considered a crime under section 15 (1) of the POCSO Act. The court said that even if a person does not intend to publish such a video or send it to someone else, it will still be considered a crime under the POCSO Act.
