SC judgment on child sexual exploitation has right intent. But it also raises questions

The Supreme Court judgement connected Monday connected intersexual exploitation of minors signals a indispensable broadening of the conversation. In a landmark ruling, it said that viewing, possession and retention of sexually explicit materials involving minors represent a transgression nether the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act, whether oregon not it is shared oregon transmitted further. The ruling overrides a January bid by the Madras High Court that had held that “mere possession” oregon retention of kid pornography was not an offence nether Section 67-B of the IT Act. But this enlargement of the ambit of ineligible enactment against specified exploitation besides raises a question astir defender rails, and astir whether harsher laws are amended deterrents. Does this presumption of the law, that equates possession with transgression intent, spot the load of impervious connected the accused? This raises concerns astatine a clip erstwhile the authorities has been known to weaponise laws and curb freedoms, particularly of the voiceless and vulnerable.

The apex tribunal rightly says that, “Child intersexual exploitation is 1 of the astir heinous crimes imaginable, and the offence of kid pornography is arsenic arsenic heinous if not more, arsenic successful the second the victimisation and exploitation of the kid bash not extremity with the archetypal enactment of abuse. It, successful essence, turns the singular incidental of maltreatment into a ripple of trauma-inducing acts wherever the rights and dignity of the kid is continuously violated each clip specified worldly is viewed oregon shared”. But this approach, portion empathetic to victims, whitethorn not support capable country for kinds of teen behaviour which necessitate delicate handling, not criminalisation, including online exploration of sexuality. The ruling besides sidesteps the question of regularisation of what it recommends beryllium referred to arsenic “child intersexual exploitative and maltreatment material” (CSEAM) alternatively of “child pornography”, and it does not recognise the possibilities of rehabilitation oregon the necessity of the infrastructure that is required for it. Its accent connected mandatory reporting downplays the hazard of facing apathy, unfortunate blaming and harassment by the police.