The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that downloading, storing and watching child pornography is an offence under the POCSO Act and came down heavily on the Madras High Court, which said that downloading and viewing such content is not punishable.

On January 11, the Madras High Court had cancelled criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man from Chennai charged with downloading and viewing child pornography, observing that watching such explicit content in private would not fall within the scope of the POCSO Act.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala today said the Madras High Court committed an egregious error in passing the judgment.

The Supreme Court restored the criminal proceedings against the Chennai man and stated that publishing and sharing child pornography content was already an offence, apart from creating and downloading such material.

It asked the central government to bring in an amendment to replace the word 'child pornography' with 'child sexually abusive and exploitative material'. It also directed other courts not to use the word 'child pornography' in such cases henceforth.

The Supreme Court's ruling came after it heard a plea filed by Just Rights for Children Alliance, a coalition of NGOs, LiveLaw reported.

The petitioner expressed concerns over the Madras High Court's order and said it might encourage people to watch child pornography with the impression that individuals downloading and storing such content would not face prosecution, according to LiveLaw.

The plea stated that the High Court's order would have a negative impact on child welfare.

Source: India Today