CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Saturday said that downloading and watching child pornography in private cannot be considered an offence under the POCSO Act. Justice Anand Venkatesh issued the order pointing out that using children to produce pornographic films can be considered an offence under the POCSO Act. The court was considering the case of a youth who was arrested for watching pornographic videos on his phone.

"To attract the offences under the POCSO Act, a child or children must have been used for pornography. Merely watching videos produced by using children cannot be considered an offence under the POCSO Act," the court said.

The youth was arrested on the basis of the letter received by the police. It was alleged that the youth watched downloaded and watched child pornographic videos on his mobile phone. The court quashed the prosecution against the youth. It also cited an order issued by the Kerala High Court on a similar case.