NEW DELHI: Downloading and watching child pornography is an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, ruled the Supreme Court today. The verdict was pronounced by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud. The bench of the chief justice set aside the Madras High Court order that had ruled that merely downloading and watching child porn was not an offence under POCSO Act. The Supreme Court noted that the high court had committed a serious error in passing the judgment.

The apex court directed that the definition of child pornography should be changed to material that sexually exploits and abuses. The court asked Parliament to issue an ordinance for this purpose.

The Madras High Court ruled that downloading and privately viewing child pornography cannot be considered an offense under the POCSO Act. Justice for Children Alliance approached the Supreme Court against this.

The high court ruled that accidental downloading of such videos involving children is not a crime. Such downloading cannot be construed as an offense under the Information Technology Act. The court's reference was while considering a case registered under the POCSO Act. The petitioner was charged with an offense under Section 15(2) of the POCSO Act and Section 67B (b) of the IT Act.

The allegation against the petitioner was that he had downloaded such obscene pictures from Telegram and kept them. The court observed that keeping or possessing such obscene material is not an offence. The Supreme Court has now ruled against this.