The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a Madras High Court order and said that watching and storage of child pornography is a crime under POCSO Act and IT law. The apex court also laid down guidelines for enforcement of POCSO Act.
Hearing a plea challenging the Madras HC order, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice J.B. Pardiwala set aside the judgment and observed the Madras High Court made an "egregious error" in quashing criminal proceedings, Live Law reported.
The bench also directed lower courts not use the term “child pornography”. The Court suggested that the Parliament must amend the existing law and replace ‘child pornography’ with the term ‘child sexual exploitative and abusive material’.
The Madras High Court in January, quashing criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old individual, had observed mere storage and consumption of child pornography, without any intention to transmit, is not an offence. The youth was arrested after police found content related to child pornography on his mobile phone.
