Possession of Child porn will be non-bailable offence and will be jailed for 7 years

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Having child porn in your mobile phone may put you in trouble as it is soon going to be a non-bailable offence and one can be punished up to 5 years and will be fined by 5,000 rupees.

Possession of child pornographic material for commercial use, viewing and storage of such material and their transmission and distribution may soon invite severe punishment, including a hefty fine and jail term extending up to five years.

Although these are just proposed amendments Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The act also include penalties for not mandatorily reporting child pornography as also possession of pornographic pictures and videos on WhatsApp.

The new projected amendments in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) plan to crack down on child pornography.

The proposal is awaiting approval from ministries.

The suggestion is awaiting the approval of the law ministry and the ministry of women and child development is hoping to get it by next week to be able to take the alterations to the Cabinet soon, sources said.

The amendments have been proposed in Section 15 of the POCSO Act. It is proposed that any person who “stores or possesses” any pornographic material in any form involving a child “but fails to delete/destroy or report” the same to the designated authority shall be punished with a fine not less than Rs 1,000. In the event of a second or subsequent offence, the fine shall not be less than Rs 5,000.

Growing instances of pornography involving children have been seen with concern by the Prime Minister’s Office, which has initiated steps to make it a very serious offence.

This is to ensure that the shamefaced shall be punished on the first conviction with imprisonment which may not be less than three years and may extend up to five years. For Subsequent conviction, the minimum punishment will be for five years which could be extended to seven years.