Dr Bandi Sayanna
Watching child pornography in the privacy of one’s home doesn’t absolve them of the crime, and even if one is watching such videos or even downloading them privately, they are under the watchful eyes of the District police, with the central as well as international agencies monitoring them.
This is the strong message that comes out of the latest Supreme Court decision to review the Madras High Court ruling which held that downloading and viewing child pornography was not an offence. The apex court’s stance on the case is a stern warning to the lakhs of people who download and watch child pornography privately.
Terming the Madras High Court decision on child pornography as ‘atrocious’, the Supreme Court of India has issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government after Just Rights for Children alliance, a coalition of NGOs, challenged the Madras High Court’s recent order.
Welcoming the order, the Dr. Bandi Sayanna, President, Spandana Cultural Organisation for Progressive Education (SCOPE), a partner of the Just Rights for Children Alliance, in the district Sangareddy, Telangana State, said, “This is an important day because it shows that a crime of child pornography being done in the privacy of one’s home is being watched and monitored across the globe by the police in the district, state, Delhi, and the United States of America. The urgency shown by the Supreme Court in this case is a remarkable step in the fight to combat the online sexual abuse of our children.”
In a widely publicized order, the Madras High Court on 11 January 2024 quashed the FIR and criminal proceedings against a 29-year-old Chennai man and had held that watching child pornography would not fall within the scope of the POCSO Act, 2012. The accused had downloaded pornography material involving the child on his mobile phone. Notably, the FIR was registered by the Police based on information received and there was no complainant as such. During the investigation, two files that contained child pornography content were found in the accused mobile phone.
Mere viewing too increases demand for toxic content
The Madras High Court had quashed the FIR on the grounds that the accused had merely downloaded the material and watched the pornography in privacy and it was neither published nor transmitted to others. However, the Supreme Court of India issued the notice after, Just Rights for Children alliance, a coalition of NGOs, and Bachpan Bachao Andolan challenged the Madras High Court order. Just Rights for Children alliance is a coalition formed by 5 NGOs with over 120 NGOs as partners working throughout India against child sexual exploitation, child trafficking and child marriage.
Challenging the High Court order, the NGOs argued that the impression is given to the general public that downloading and possessing child pornography is not an offence. “It would increase the demand for Child pornography and encourage people to involve innocent children in pornography,” the petitions said. The Supreme Court allowed the application of the Just Rights for Children alliance to appeal against the judgement of the Madras High Court.
Talking about the case, H.S. Phoolka, Senior advocate, said, “This is a watershed moment in the endeavour to ensure the right to justice because the Supreme Court has accepted that even in a criminal case, a third party not directly affected by the crime can approach the higher judiciary if travesty of justice has been done or if justice has been denied.”
Child porn cases increasing
The High Court had said that since the accused had not used a child or children for pornographic purposes, at best, it can only be construed as a moral decay on the part of the accused person. The Madras HC had relied on a Kerala HC judgment to exonerate the culprit charged under the IT and the POCSO Acts.
However, stating the Madras High Court had erroneously relied on Kerala HC order, the petition said, “The nature of the content and the involvement of minors in the material make it subject to the provisions of the POCSO Act, rendering it a distinct offence from the one considered in the Kerala High Court’s judgment.”
Notably, there has been a glaring increase in child pornography cases in the country, rising from 44 cases in 2018 to 1171 cases in 2022, as per the data by the National Crime Records Bureau.
(Dr Bandi Sayanna is president of SCOPE, an NGO that works with Nobel prize winner Kailash Satyarthi Children Foundation from Telangana)
