In the latest ruling, the Karnataka High Court decided that simply viewing child pornography online does not constitute a criminal offense under Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Justice M. Nagaprasanna highlighted that the law is designed to target individuals who publish or transmit such material, not those who merely view it.

Case Background

The case centered on M. Inayathulla, a resident of Hoskote in Bengaluru Rural district, who was accused of accessing a child pornography website for nearly an hour in March 2023. The activity was detected by CyberTipline, which subsequently alerted law enforcement. A complaint was filed by the CEN police two months later.

Legal Arguments

Inayathulla's defense team argued that Section 67B should not apply to him since he neither published nor transmitted any material but only viewed it. His counsel emphasized that while Inayathulla may have issues with pornography, he did not share any explicit content. In contrast, the government advocate argued that such behavior should be investigated and not tolerated.

Court's Ruling

Justice Nagaprasanna reviewed the evidence and confirmed that Section 67B specifically targets the publication or transmission of child pornography. The judge stated, "The essence of the provision is to address the publishing or transmitting of material that depicts children in sexually explicit acts. The allegation against the petitioner is limited to viewing a pornographic website. This does not equate to publishing or transmitting under Section 67B of the IT Act."

The court concluded that merely viewing child pornography does not meet the criteria for prosecution under this section. Justice Nagaprasanna remarked, "At most, the petitioner could be considered a porn addict who has accessed such material. Nothing more is alleged. When measured against the requirements of Section 67B, it is clear that continuing proceedings would be an abuse of legal process." Consequently, the court quashed the proceedings against Inayathulla, reinforcing the legal distinction between viewing and disseminating child pornography.

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