Supreme Court has ruled that downloading and viewing child pornography

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the possession of child pornographic material constitutes an offense under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act). A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, recommended that Parliament consider amendments to the Act. The Court expressed disapproval of the term “child pornography,” advocating for a change to “child sexually abusive and exploitative material” in legal references. The Bench suggested that an ordinance could be introduced and instructed all courts to refrain from using the term “child pornography” in their rulings. Justice JB Pariwala, delivering the verdict, overturned a decision by the Kerala High Court, which had previously determined that simply downloading and storing child pornography on a mobile device did not constitute an offense under the POCSO or IT Acts. This ruling followed a petition from the Just Rights for Children Alliance, which prompted the Bench to review the Kerala High Court’s stance. The Supreme Court characterized the High Court’s ruling as “atrocious” and issued notices to the Kerala Government and other parties to clarify their positions regarding the challenge to the High Court’s decision. The petitioner, representing a coalition of over 120 NGOs, referenced data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to illustrate a staggering 2,561 percent increase in child pornography cases from 2018 to 2022. Senior counsel HS Phoolka, representing the petitioner, informed the Bench that the Kerala Police had discovered local children aged 8-10 and 15-16 years involved in the production of the illicit sexual videos. Phoolka noted that the accused was apprehended during Operation P-Hunt, a targeted initiative by the Countering Child Sexual Exploitation Team of the Kerala Police.