Is mere downloading child porn on mobile a crime? Supreme Court to examine

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 13

Does mere storage of child pornography in a mobile phone amount to crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, or the Information Technology Act, 2000? Acting on a petition by Just Rights for Children Alliance, a Supreme Court Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud on Monday decided to examine a verdict of the Kerala HC which ruled that mere downloading and storing of child pornography on one’s phone couldn’t be considered as an offence under the POCSO Act or the IT Act.

The top court issued notices to the Kerala Government, Sebin Thomas and one other, asking them to spell out their respective stand on the petition challenging the high court’s verdict.

Citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the petitioner — a coalition of over 120 NGOs — sought to highlight the fact that there was almost a 2,561% increase in child pornography cases between 2018 and 2022.

On behalf of the petitioner, senior counsel HS Phoolka told the Bench that the Kerala Police had found that several local children in the age group of 8-10 and 15-16 years were involved in the offending sexual videos.

Phoolka said the accused was arrested during Operation P-Hunt, a special drive launched by the Countering Child Sexual Exploitation team of the Kerala Police functioning under Cyberdome to curb crimes against children. Ruling that an automatic or accidental downloading of child pornography was not an offence under Section 67B (b) of the IT Act or Section 15(2) of the POCSO Act, when evidence showed no specific intent to transmit or distribute such content, the high court had discharged the accused who had allegedly downloaded child pornography from an app.

The top court referred to a challenge against a Madras HC order that said watching child pornographic videos will not by itself attract offences under the POCSO Act.