The Supreme Court has given an important verdict on child pornography and said that downloading and watching it is a crime under the POCSO Act. Along with this, the court advised the central government to get a law passed from the Parliament, which should have clear provisions regarding sexual harassment of children. Rules should be made on child pornography so that children can be protected from harassment. Apart from this, the bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also questioned the decision of the Madras High Court, which said that just downloading and watching child pornography is not a crime.
The apex court said that this decision of the High Court was completely wrong and it was a mistake. The High Court had given this decision in the case of allegations against a 28-year-old man. The man was accused of downloading child pornography on his phone and watching it. The court had rejected action against the youth in this case. The court said that today children are becoming victims of child pornography. Society should make children aware and educate them about this. Instead, it is not right to punish them.
Now the Supreme Court has rejected the decision of the Madras High Court and has given permission to prosecute the youth. In its decision, the apex court referred to section 15 of the POCSO Act, under which keeping material containing child pornography is considered a crime. This section states, ‘If a person keeps material containing child pornography, then a fine of up to 5 thousand will be imposed on him.
Even after this, if a similar crime is committed, a fine of Rs. 10,000 will be imposed and if this is repeated again, then along with the fine, a sentence of 3 to 5 years will be imposed. Not only this, if this happens again, then a jail term of up to 7 years will be imposed. Referring to this provision, the apex court gave this verdict.