New Delhi : The Supreme Court has given a major verdict in the case of pornography content related to children. The apex court has said that viewing, publishing or downloading such content is a crime.
The case was heard in the Supreme Court by a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. The court also suggested that the parliament to must bring the words ‘child sexual exploitative and abusive material’ instead of child pornography, in Pocso Act.
Justice JB Pardiwala said, “The High Court has erred in its order and hence we set aside the order of the High Court and we send the matter back to the sessions court.”
The Supreme Court rejected the decision of the Madras High Court, which said that downloading and watching child pornography is not a crime under the POCSO Act and the IT Act. The Supreme Court gave its verdict on the petition challenging the High Court order.
The Madras High Court had quashed the judicial proceedings against a 28-year-old man and held that downloading CSEAM was not an offence under Section 67B of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000