2024-09-22 19:22:17 :
The Supreme Court will give its verdict on Monday on the question whether mere viewing of child pornography is a crime? In its ruling, the apex court will also review the Madras High Court ruling which said that downloading or viewing child pornography does not constitute an offence under the POCSO and IT Acts.
In fact, during the hearing on March 11, on the appeal of the NGO Child Justice League, the Supreme Court bench headed by the CJI had called the judgment atrocious and commented that it was an ugly and cruel judgment. The CJI said, how can the judge say that?
The Madras High Court on January 11 acquitted a 28-year-old man of the charge of downloading and viewing child pornography, saying that mere viewing of child pornography does not constitute an offence under the POCSO and IT Acts.
The unanimous decision was delivered by a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. The unanimous decision was written by Justice Pardiwala himself. Hence, as per tradition, he read it out in the court.
What did the Madras High Court say?
The Madras High Court, in a judgement passed in January this year, said downloading child pornography does not constitute an offence under POCSO or the Information Technology Act as such acts are done without affecting anyone or in secret.
The NGO made this argument
The NGO Child Justice League has filed a petition in the Supreme Court through senior lawyer HS Pulka and challenged the high court order. Some say that it will promote child pornography and will be detrimental to the welfare of children. The petition said that there is a general public perception that downloading and possessing child pornography is not a crime, which will increase the demand for child pornography and encourage people to involve innocent children in pornography.
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