Supreme Court Overrules High Court’s Order Regarding Child Pornography in “Egregious Error”

New Delhi : The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act makes downloading and viewing child pornography illegal. The Supreme Court made this decision in a historic decision on the strict legislation meant to guard against child abuse.

The Madras High Court’s ruling that downloading and viewing child pornography was not illegal under the POCSO Act was overturned by the panel of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala. Noting that the high court had made a “egregious error” in issuing the ruling, the Supreme Court took note.

In a case where a 28-year-old man was accused of downloading child pornography on his phone, the Madras High Court issued an injunction. The criminal case against the had been quashed by the court.

The court had quashed the criminal proceedings against the man and said children these days are grappling with the serious issue of watching pornography and society must be mature enough to educate them instead of punishing them. The Supreme Court today restored the criminal proceedings against the man.

“Those who fail to report or destroy any pornographic material involving children that they store risk a fine of at least five thousand rupees; repeat offenders risk a fine of at least ten thousand rupees. The content is punishable by up to three years in prison in addition to a fine if it is saved with the intention of transmitting or propagating it further. The Section states that keeping child pornographic material for commercial gain is punishable by three to five years in prison, and in the event of a second conviction, up to seven years in prison.

Mens rea, or the intention behind the crime, is to be inferred from actus rea in this instance, according to Justice Pardiwala.

We have discussed the long-lasting effects of child pornography on child maltreatment and victimization. We have proposed to the Parliament to alter POCSO in order to classify child pornography as material that exploits and abuses children sexually. We have proposed the introduction of an ordinance. The bench stated, “We have requested that no court use any reference to child pornography in any order.