POCSO Act: Supreme court overturns Madras HC's order on child pornography, says HC committed 'egregious error'

The Supreme Court on Monday held that watching and downloading child pornography are offences under the POCSO ACT.

Watching and downloading child pornography are offences under the POCSO Act and the information technology law, the Supreme Court of India ruled on Monday in a landmark verdict.

With its judgment, the apex court's bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud set aside the Madras High Court ruling that had said mere downloading and watching child pornography was not an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Information Technology (IT) Act.

The top court delivered its verdict on a plea challenging the Madras High Court order.

It is worth noting, that the Madras High Court's order had come in a case in which the court quashed the criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man who was charged with downloading child pornography on his phone.

While pronouncing the verdict, the apex court restored the criminal proceedings in the case and noted that the high court had committed an "egregious error" in passing the judgment.

The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, also laid down certain guidelines on child pornography and its legal consequences.

Additionally, the apex court suggested Parliament to consider amending the term 'child pornography' with "child sexually abusive and exploitative material" by bringing changes in law, and asked the courts not to use the term 'child pornography'.

"We have suggested to Parliament to bring an amendment to POCSO... so that definition of child pornography can be referred to as 'child sexually abusive and exploitative material'. We have suggested an Ordinance can be brought in," it said.

"We have said about lingering impact of child pornography on victimisation and abuse of children and on role to report an offence, including role of society and stakeholders," the bench said.

Terming the high court ruling atrocious, the apex court had earlier agreed to hear the plea challenging the high court ruling that had said mere downloading and watching child pornography was not an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Information Technology (IT) Act.

The high court had also said that children these days were grappling with the serious issue of watching pornography and instead of punishing them, the society must be "mature enough" to educate them.

(With agency inputs)