Supreme Court orders ban on child porn sites, says ‘want no excuse’

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to block all child pornography websites, and told the government that the excuse of technical difficulty in banning such sites would not be accepted as a ground for failure to comply with its order.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh also said people could not be allowed to watch pornography websites at public places in the name of freedom of speech and expression, and that such persons should be booked for obscenity.

Expressing concern about the internet hosting multiple child pornography websites, “which are being deliberately run with perversity to make money”, the bench directed the government to sit with information technology experts to find out ways to block them. “It is not permissible under Indian law and you have to block it,” the bench said.

“Innocent children cannot be made prey to these kind of painful situations, and a nation, by no means, can afford to carry any kind of experiment with its children in the name of liberty and freedom of expression,” the bench said. Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand and advocate Rajesh Ranjan, appearing for the Centre, contended that the government was committed to blocking child pornography, and steps were being taken to curb such sites. The ASG, however, told the bench that it was not possible to block all porn sites as many of them were adult in nature and there was nothing wrong in people watching them in private.

The court said what is obscene for one person could be amatter of art for another and the government had to draw a fine line. It, however, said that there could not be divergent views on child pornography and it must be banned.

Advocate Vijay Panjwani, appearing for the petitioner, said freedom of speech did not give unfettered power to watch obscene videos.