Supreme Court Issues New Guidelines on Child Pornography

New Delhi | Desk: The Supreme Court has introduced new guidelines concerning child pornography, establishing that viewing or downloading child pornography is now a criminal offense.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court clarified that under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act, accessing or downloading any material involving child pornography constitutes a punishable offense.

This decision overturns a previous ruling by the Madras High Court, which had held that merely watching or downloading such content was not illegal.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court emphasized that even storing child pornography material falls under the criminal provisions of the POCSO Act.

In addition, the Court has recommended that Parliament consider amending the POCSO Act. It advised replacing the term “child pornography” with “child sexually exploitative and abusive material,” to better capture the severity of the crime.

The Supreme Court has also instructed all courts across the country to refrain from using the term “child pornography” and adopt the suggested language to address such offenses in future cases.