Keeping child obscene content in phone is a crime even if not shared: Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has made it clear that merely storing obscene images or videos involving children on a mobile phone or any electronic device is a punishable offence, even if such content is not shared with others.

The court refused to quash criminal proceedings against a man accused of storing large quantities of child sexual abuse material on his mobile phone. The accused, identified as P. J. Binoj (38) from Thrissur district in Kerala, had approached the High Court seeking cancellation of the criminal case pending against him before a Fast Track Special Court.

A single-judge bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna dismissed the petition and ruled that possession of such material itself constitutes a criminal offence under the law.

The court cited the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Just Rights for Children Alliance vs S. Harish (2004), which clarified that possessing or storing child sexual abuse content in electronic form amounts to an offence, irrespective of whether it was circulated.

Rejecting the argument made by the petitioner, the court observed that claiming the material was not forwarded or shared with anyone cannot be considered a valid defence.

“My intention was not to share the images stored on my phone with anyone,” the petitioner had argued before the court. However, the bench categorically rejected this claim.

The court said the prosecution had produced sufficient material indicating the presence of child obscene images and videos in the accused person’s mobile phone.

According to case records, the accused’s mobile phone was seized by police during investigation in another criminal case. When the device was sent to a forensic laboratory for examination, officials reportedly discovered large volumes of obscene images and videos involving children stored in the device’s storage.

Based on these findings, the Commercial Street Police Station registered a case under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.

Specifically, the charges were filed under Section 67B of the IT Act and Section 15 of the POCSO Act, which deal with creation, possession, browsing and transmission of child sexual abuse material.

Under these laws, offenders may face imprisonment ranging from three to seven years along with financial penalties.

The High Court emphasized that the seriousness of offences involving children cannot be diluted under any circumstances.