Ban child porn on the Net

The Supreme Court on Friday voiced its concern over the menace of child pornography spreading like a cancer and observed that it cannot be allowed in the guise of free speech and liberty.

A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh hearing a PIL relating to child pornography asked the additional solicitor general Pinky Anand to come out with a suitable mechanism to block these websites and put an end to this menace.

The Supreme Court on Friday voiced its concern over the menace of child pornography spreading like a cancer in the society and observed that it cannot be allowed in the guise of free speech and liberty.

A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh hearing a PIL relating to child pornography asked the Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand to come out with a suitable mechanism to block these websites and put to an end to this menace.

The Bench said “Children cannot be made prey to this kind of painful situation and a nation cannot afford to carry on any experiment with its children in the name of liberty or for that matter freedom of speech. You have to be more scientific.”

The ASG said while it agreed with the need to curb child pornography, applying a blanket ban on adult photography per se may not be feasible given the individual right to privacy and technical difficulties involved in blocking the sites.

She said that putting a blanket ban on pornography was not feasible as the government presently does not have the technical expertise, besides it involved issues like geographical boundaries and individual’s right to privacy. She said “These service providers are not within the jurisdiction of the country. There should be self regulation or a mandatory provision for banning the materials.”

The bench remarked, “If it is not permissible by the government of India, it is the bligation of the government to ban it. Mechanism has to be developed. How it can be done you have to see.”