The Kerala High Court has held that mere possession of sexually explicit photos will not amount to a crime under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
The judgment came eleven years after the Kollam East police arrested a man and a woman, who were waiting at the Transport bus stand in the city in 2008. The police had seized a video camera and a digital camera that contained explicit pictures and videos of the woman.
The prosecution went on to build their case on this seizure.
But the counsel for the petitioners sought that the case be dismissed since the photos or videos had neither been published nor advertised.
The counsel stressed that there was in fact no allegation that the petitioners had sold, distributed or circulated any indecent material.
The photograph was of the woman, who was the second accused. And the first accused happened to be her partner. The photographs were of them together and the provisions of Act 60 of 1986 did not apply as a result, the counsel went on to argue.
The court agreed and quashed the criminal case against the man and woman.
The judge held that if an adult person has a photograph of himself or herself in his or her possession that is sexually explicit in nature, the provisions of the Act 60 of 1986 will not apply, unless the prosecution proves that those photographs were distributed or published for advertisement or for any other incidental purpose.