Pornography A Growing Menace In The Cyber World

With the cyber world increasingly infested by porn, especially child porn, it is the duty of parents, teachers, students and the public to protect children and the society at large from its ill effects

One of the most growing concerns in today’s

Cyber world has been its darker side. Yes...

of the rise in Cyber Crime. One of the biggest

challenges being faced by society are the

adverse effects of viewing porn by teenagers

and the porn explosion which has made children gullible

to aggression of paedophiles. Sexual crimes by minors are

on the rise and the easy accessibility to porn is considered

one of the major reasons. Today’s generation lives in the

world of ‘Tech’... WhatsApp, Facebook, online chat sites and

what not. It’s good to be ‘Tech Savvy’ but if one uses these

services/apps to harm others or themselves, it comes with

ill effects. Specially, youngsters get into the trap of such ill

effects and get victimized.

Nowadays, everybody has internet connections on their

cell phones. Many a time, bus drivers, conductors, cleaners

take advantage of innocent children, induce them to

watch porn on their mobiles and indulge in molestation

and sodomization of the child. In 2015, one such reported

incident happened where a bus driver allegedly molested

a school girl after watching porn on his mobile which he

confessed to during interrogation by police. Now, such type

of criminal activities are not only limited to adults but

are also growing amongst teenagers and youngsters. The

reasons are manifold and some of them are: Easy access to

internet connections available on mobiles and computers,

lack of strict parameters and lack of vigilance in the Cyber

world like effective filters and lack of strict accountability to

Intermediaries (which includes Telecom Service Providers,

Network Service Providers (NSP), Internet Service Providers

(ISP), Web Hosting Service Providers, online payment sites,

online market places, cyber cafés etc.) Youngsters have

easy access to porn and sexually explicit content on the

mobile phone. This in turn has increased sexual crimes

and victimization of minors. As these are publicly shared

without compunction, even children would be exposed to

this, critically affecting their emotional and psychological

well-being.

One such reported incident happened again in 2015 in

Hyderabad where an engineering student allegedly stalked

more than 200 teen girls online through Facebook and

blackmailed them with their naked pictures, threatening

to display them on social media sites. Countries like the

United States of America in 1998 enacted Children Online

Privacy of Protection Act (COPPA) as they have seen threats

of lack of privacy of children on the internet. COPPA

imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or

online services directed at children under 13 years of age,

and on operators of other websites or online services that

have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal

information online from a child under 13 years of age.

In 2000, CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) was

developed to implement safe internet policies and rules,

and usage of filter software.

Watching a Pornographic film or its possession at home is

not an offense:

The Law accepts that obscene content has the tendency to

deprave and corrupt the mind of the accused but it does not

punish a person who watches the content in a private room

or to have possession of at home. The Hon’ble High Court

of Madras in case of V. Sundarranjan Vs. State of Tamil

Nadu (Crl P.C No. 376/1978) held that if a blue film is found

in the possession of the accused, he cannot be convicted

simply on the grounds of possession unless it is further

proved that the purpose was for selling or letting out. Also in

case of Jagdish Chavla v. State of Rajasthan, 1999 Cr. LJ

2562 (Raj) Hon’ble High Court of Rajasthan held that mere

viewing of obscene films at home on TV with VCRs does

not amount to an offense under section 292 IPC because an

offense under section 292 IPC can only be made when an

obscene article is kept for sale, distribution, circulation and

public exhibition. It is only when the person viewing the

content goes out of the door and calls his friends for public

exhibition of the prohibited material that an offense under

section 292 IPC is committed.

Some of the Indian Legislation on this subject:

Though under The Information Technology Act, 2000,

specially sections 67, 67A and 67B that prohibit publication

or transmission of any obscene material or sexually explicit

act or conduct or any material depicting children in sexually

explicit act in the electronic form and is punishable with

imprisonment which may extend to seven years with fine

which may extend to 10 lakh rupees depending on the

offense under the aforesaid sections. Under the Indian

Penal Code, Sections 292 and 293 prohibits sale, purchase

or hire etc. of obscene books and is punishable which may

extend to seven years with fine which may extend to 5,000

Rupees and further Section 354 A(iii) prohibits showing

pornography against the will of the woman and it is

punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which

may extend to 3 years or with fine or with both. Under The

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986-

sections 3 and 4 prohibits advertisements or exhibition or

publication or sending by post of books containing indecent

representation of women in any form is punishable with

imprisonment which may extend to five years with fine

which may extend to '1 lakh. Under The Protection of

Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) ACT, 2012 - Section

13 says that whoever uses children for pornographic

purposes in any form of media (including programs or

advertisements telecast by television channels or internet

or any other electronic form or printed form, whether or not

such programs or advertisements are intended for personal

use or for distribution), for purposes of sexual gratification

shall be punishable with imprisonment not less than five

years and may extend to seven years and 10 years and

imprisonment for life and are also liable to fine depending

on the manner of the child being used for pornographic

purposes.

As per the Information Technology (Intermediaries

Guidelines) Rules, 2011 - As per Rule 3 envisaged that

the intermediaries shall observe due diligence while

discharging their duties and to frame regulations, one of

them which is enumerated in the rule is that it shall inform

the users of computer resource not to host, display, upload,

modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information

that is grossly harmful, obscene, pornographic, pedophilic,

ethically objectionable etc.

A pending writ petition Kamlesh Vaswani Vs. Union of

India (WP 177 of 2013) has been filed before the Hon’ble

Supreme Court of India, in which inter alia one of the

prayers of the Petitioner has been a complete ban on

Pornography sites in India. On behalf of Supreme Court

Women Lawyers’ Association (SCWLA), the author has filed

an application and has given many suggestions before the

Hon’ble Supreme Court. In the aforesaid matter, the bench

of Hon’ble Justice Dipak Mishra and Hon’ble Justice Shiva

Kirti Singh vide order dated 26.2.2016 after hearing all the

parties directed that suggestions given by all parties may be

considered. Ms. Mahalaksmi Pavani, Sr. Adv. Supreme Court

and President of SCWLA argued on behalf of SCWLA. She

argued that “Child pornography is spreading like cancer and

it would not be out of place to call it a moral cancer...”. The

aforesaid matter is sub judice before the Hon’ble Supreme

Court. Let’s hope that the Apex Court of India issues certain

guidelines and directions to all the stakeholders in tackling

this social problem.

Well... who is to be blamed? Do we have enough legislation

to curb this problem or we need some more stringent laws...

Has our Government failed to implement the legislation?

Have stakeholders made efforts to curb this menace?

Well perhaps, the answer which comes to my mind is that

collective effort has to be made by all stakeholders. There

has to be strict monitoring and checks in the cyber world of

ours and strict liabilities to be imposed on intermediaries

who transmit or receive information and records from Cable

Landing System in India. There has to be a massive number

of awareness campaigns undertaken by Schools, Colleges

and Religious Institutions as well. Parents, Teachers,

Professors, Students and Public at large have to be apprised

of the laws against Pornography and its ill effects. We,

the Society after all has to be more vigilant about what is

happening with our children and also it is the duty and

responsibility of all stakeholders to protect our children and

society from the ill effects of Pornography.

Disclaimer – The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and are purely informative in nature.