Is watching pornographic videos of children a crime or not? The Supreme Court will decide tomorrow

Supreme Court Verdict On Watching Child Obscenity: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Monday, September 23, on a petition challenging an order of the Madras High Court. Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra are likely to pronounce the verdict.

The Madras High Court has said in its judgment that merely downloading and watching pornographic videos of children is not a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act.

Madras High Court verdict

The Supreme Court had earlier agreed to hear a petition challenging the High Court’s decision that downloading and watching pornographic videos of children is not a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act. On January 11, the Madras High Court quashed criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man for downloading pornographic material involving children on his mobile phone.

‘Society is mature enough’

The High Court had also said that these days children are facing the serious issue of watching pornographic videos and instead of punishing them, the society should be ‘mature enough’ to educate them. The High Court had taken note of the arguments of senior advocate HS Phoolka, representing two petitioner organizations in the case, that the High Court’s decision was contrary to the laws in this regard.

The senior advocate appeared on behalf of Faridabad-based NGO ‘Just Right for Children Alliance’ and New Delhi-based ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’. Both these organizations work for the welfare of children. Earlier, the High Court had quashed the criminal case registered against S Harish under the POCSO Act-2012 and the Information Technology Act.

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