NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is slated to deliver on Monday its judgment on an appeal filed by an NGO against a Madras HC order quashing a criminal case against a man charged with downloading and watching child pornography.
A three-judge bench of the top court, led by the Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, who had reserved its verdict on April 19, is slated to pronounce the judgement on September 23, Monday.
The SC, had earlier, during one of the hearings in March this year, termed the HC order as "atrocious," and agreed to hear the plea challenging the HC ruling that said mere downloading and watching child pornography is not an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Information Technology (IT) Act.
The HC had, on January 11 this year, in its order quashed a criminal case against a 28-year-old man, S Harish, charged by the prosecution for downloading and watching on his mobile phone some pornographic content involving children.
The HC had granted relief to Harish on the ground that to constitute an offence under Section 67-B of IT Act, 2000, the accused person (Harish) must have published, transmitted, created material depicting children in a sexually explicit act or conduct. A careful reading of this provision does not make watching child pornography, an offence under the said Section.
The HC, had, however, expressed its serious concerns over children used in pornography and watching pornography.
Challenging this judgment, the NGO, Just Right for Children Alliance, which work for the welfare of children, had knocked the doors of the apex court, seeking a direction for setting aside the HC order and sought appropriate directions against the accused, Harish.