Bengaluru: Watching online child pornographic material is not an offence under the Information Technology Act, the Karnataka High Court has stated.
After hearing a petition filed by N Inayatullah of Hoskote seeking cancellation of the case filed against him for watching child pornography online, a bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna ordered to quash it.
Under Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, a person can be charged of an offence for preparing, publishing or transmitting child pornography material. But the applicant had watched a pornographic website and not published or transmitted the material, so it is not an offence under Section 67B, the bench pointed out.
The court further mentioned that the petitioner had watched pornographic videos but nothing more has been alleged against him. Thus, the case was registered against the petitioner accidentally and if it continues, it will be a misuse of law, it added.
On March 23, 2023, Inayatullah had watched pornographic videos of children on his mobile phone between 3.30 and 4.40 pm. As per the information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which had received it through the portal launched by the central government to prevent sexual violence against women and children, the Bangalore City CID Unit sent a report to the Bangalore Cyber Crime Station.
After verifying this report, the person who watched the pornographic videos was found to be Inayatulla and a complaint was registered against him under Section 67B of the Information Technology Act on May 3, 2023 at the Bangalore Cyber Crime Police Station. The petitioner had moved the High Court seeking to quash the complaint.
During the hearing, the lawyer for the petitioner said, "The petitioner is a porn addict but no video was recorded or shared with anyone. Therefore, the case should be cancelled".
The prosecution argued, "The petitioner has admitted that he has seen obscene videos of children so his application should be dismissed".
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