Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav spoke of making a strict law to prevent obscene content on social media. Vaishnav said- the culture of the countries from which such content comes is totally different from ours.
Vaishnav said- Parliamentary Standing Committee needs to look into this subject and make the law stricter to prevent obscene content.
Vaishnav said this in response to a question posed by Lok Sabha MP Arun Govil on the second day of the Parliament session on Wednesday. Govil raised questions about the impact of obscene content on social media on youth and the government's responsibility to curb it.
Arun Govil asked – What is the existing mechanism to prevent vulgar content? MP Govil asked in the House, what is the current system to prevent obscene content? And is the government proposing to tighten these laws?
In response, Vaishnav said- editorial checking is over in the age of social media. Earlier whatever was printed from the press was checked for truth or falsity and then brought before the media.
He said that due to the end of editorial scrutiny, today social media has become a huge medium of freedom of the press on the one hand, but on the other hand it is an unregulated expression in which many types of indecent content are posted.
Vaishnav said that for this the existing law needs to be made more stringent. This also requires consensus.
The Supreme Court said that watching and downloading child pornography is a crime The Supreme Court on September 24 said that downloading and viewing child pornography is an offense under POCSO and the IT Act. A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra set aside the decision of the Madras High Court.
Justice JB Pardiwala said that the term 'child sexual exploitation and abusive content' should be used instead of child pornography. The central government should bring an ordinance and make the change. Even courts should not use this term.
In fact, the Madras High Court said, it is not an offense if one downloads and views such content, unless the intention is to broadcast it. The Supreme Court said that storing such content, not deleting it and not complaining about it shows that it has been stored for the purpose of broadcasting.
The High Court has made a serious mistake in its decision by dismissing this case. We set aside its decision and remanded the case back to the Sessions Court.
3 Laws on Porn Videos in India
- Watching porn online is not illegal in India, but the Information Technology Act 2000 prohibits the production, publication and transmission of porn videos.
- Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act 2000 provide for imprisonment of up to 3 years along with a fine of up to 5 lakh rupees for such offences.
- Statutory provisions have also been made in Sections 292, 293, 500, 506 of the IPC to prevent offenses related to this. Actions are taken under POCSO Act.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
