The Supreme Court on Monday (August 12) heard a case related to child pornography. According to Live Law, the decision of the Kerala High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court which had said that downloading porn videos related to children on the phone would not be a crime.
The Kerala High Court, while hearing a case on September 13, 2023, had said that if a person is viewing obscene photos or videos privately then it is not a crime, but if he is showing it to others then it would be illegal.
In fact, an NGO had approached the Supreme Court after an accused was acquitted first in the Kerala High Court and then in the Madras High Court on the same basis. The Supreme Court has reserved its decision on this for now.
This decision was given by the bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan of Kerala High Court. Justice Kunhikrishnan had said, pornography has been prevalent for centuries. Today in the digital age it is easily accessible. It is available at the fingertips of children and adults.
The question is, if someone is watching porn in his private time without showing it to others, is it a crime or not? As far as the court is concerned, it cannot be categorized as a crime because it could be a person’s personal choice. Interference in this would amount to intrusion into his privacy.
Madras High Court had said – downloading child porn on phone is not a crime
Citing this comment of the Kerala High Court as the basis, the Madras High Court had on January 11, 2024 canceled the case against an accused under the POCSO Act. Madras High Court had said that watching or downloading child pornography on one’s device does not come under the ambit of crime.
The court had made this comment during the hearing of the ongoing case against a 28-year-old man. A case was registered against that person under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) Act and IT Act on charges of child pornography. The court had canceled the case going against the accused.
Know in 3 points what are the laws regarding watching porn videos in India
- Watching porn online is not illegal in India, but the Information Technology Act 2000 bans the making, publishing and circulating of porn videos.
- Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act 2000 also provide for 3 years of jail along with a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh for those committing such crimes.
- Apart from this, legal provisions have also been made in sections 292, 293, 500, 506 of IPC to prevent crimes related to this. In case of child pornography, action is taken under POCSO law.
Porn video market is growing rapidly in India
The number of mobile phone users is expected to reach 120 crore by 2026. Not only this, the world’s top website ‘ Porn Hub ‘ has told that on an average an Indian spends 8 minutes 39 seconds on a porn website at a time. Not only this, 44% of the users watching porn are in the age group of 18 to 24 years, while 41% of the users are in the age group of 25 to 34 years.
Google has released a report in 2021 stating that India ranks sixth in the world in terms of viewing the most porn. At the same time, according to the Porn Hub website, Indians come third among the users of this website.