Should private viewing of child pornography be a crime? Supreme Court ruling on Monday

According to the case list published on the Supreme Court website, the judgment written by Justice JB Pardiwala will be delivered on September 23.

In March this year, the court headed by CJI DY Chandrachud issued a notice on an appeal challenging the Madras High Court’s decision that downloading and possession of child pornography is not an offence.

The Madras High Court, in its impugned judgment, had quashed the FIR and criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man from Chennai on the grounds that private viewing of child pornography does not fall within the purview of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh argued that the accused had merely downloaded the material and viewed the pornography privately and had neither published it nor shared it with others.

“Since he did not abuse any child or children for pornographic purposes, he can at most be accused of moral decay on the part of the defendant.”

The Chennai Police filed a complaint under Section 67 B of the Information Technology Act and Section 14(1) of the POCSO Act after seizing the accused’s phone and finding that he had downloaded and possessed child pornography.

In India, both the POCSO Act 2012 and the IT Act 2000 and other laws criminalise the creation, distribution and possession of child pornography.IANS