Today, the Supreme Court made an important decision regarding child pornography in India. The Supreme Court said on Monday that downloading and watching child pornography will be considered a crime under POCSO and IT Act. The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra gave this decision, rejecting the decision of the Madras High Court, which said that if a person downloads or watches content related to child pornography, it will not be considered a crime, unless it is broadcast by the person or such content is downloaded with the intention of broadcasting.
Apart from this, the Supreme Court said that the term ‘Child Sexually Exploitative and Abusive Material’ should be used instead of child pornography. The court asked the central government to make this change by bringing an ordinance and the courts should also not use this term. The bench said that we suggest the Parliament to make changes in the POCSO Act and after this, the term Child Sexually Abusive and Exploitative Material (CSEAM) should be used instead of the term child pornography. Well, today in this article we will tell you how much punishment is given for child pornography in Pakistan. Along with this, we will also tell whether the punishment given there is stricter than in India or not.
Punishment for child pornography in Pakistan
There are several laws in Pakistan to punish crimes related to child pornography. The first is the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016. The purpose of this law is to prevent electronic and digital crimes, including serious crimes like child pornography. Under this section 22, child pornography is a punishable offense and a person found guilty of a crime related to child pornography can be imprisoned for up to 7 years. Also, a fine of up to 50 lakh Pakistani rupees can be imposed on the culprit.
At the same time, there are many sections against child pornography under Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860. Under Section 292-B and Section 292-C, production, distribution and dissemination of child pornography has been declared a crime. Under these sections, production, dissemination, distribution or storage of any type of child pornography material can be punished with imprisonment up to 2 years and fine.
However, if this crime is committed repeatedly, the punishment can be further increased.
Punishment for pornography in India
There are currently three types of laws on pornographic videos in India. Actually, watching porn online is not illegal in India, but the IT Act 2000 prohibits the making, publishing and circulation of porn videos. Under Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act 2000, there is a provision to give a fine of up to 5 lakhs along with 3 years of imprisonment to the person committing such a crime. Whereas, legal provisions have also been made to prevent crimes related to this under Sections 292, 293, 500, 506 of the IPC. However, all these laws apply to pornography. Punishment for child pornography is given under the POCSO Act.