Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On January 11, 2024, the Madras High Court remarked that society should be “mature enough” to teach today’s kids about the severe problem of pornography rather than penalise them for it. Additionally, Justice N Anand Venkatesh dismissed the case against a 28-year-old man who was accused of downloading children’s pornography onto his cell phone.
The court reasoned that the Information Technology Act, 2000, did not criminalise simply viewing such information-“In order to constitute an offence under Section 67-B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the accused person must have published, transmitted, and created material depicting children in sexually explicit act or conduct. A careful reading of this provision does not make watching child pornography, per se, an offence under Section 67-B of the Information Technology Act, 2000”.
Justice Venkatesh ruled that although the aforementioned clause of the IT Act is worded broadly, it does not apply in situations where an individual has downloaded child pornography onto an electronic device and has only viewed it without taking any further action.
It has been proven that the petitioner downloaded and had access to two films featuring young boys on his phone; these videos were kept private and were not shared with anyone. Nonetheless, the court voiced worries about kids viewing porn. Justice Venkatesh remarked that Generation Z children are dealing with this severe issue and society should be mature enough to provide them with appropriate guidance, education, and support in order to help them overcome their addiction, rather than condemning and punishing them. Since exposure to adult content begins at the school level, education must begin there.
The Bench recommended that the petitioner seek counselling since quashing the criminal proceedings alone will not help with his addiction.
The judge stated that the principles of “operant conditioning” can be used to understand the development of porn addiction, much like other substances or “things” to which people might become hooked.