India To Ban Child Pornography, Spell Out Punishments

New Delhi: India will soon announce a blanket ban on child porn under its child sex abuse law.

The existing provision only spells out jail term for people who make films, pass them or sell them. The Centre will now declare the possession of child pornography also as a criminal offence.

According to the sources, this change is a part of amendments to the country’s 2012 law on protection of children from sexual offences that have been finalized by Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.

Violation of the order will invite five-year jail term. The changes will also bring the punishment for rape in this law on par with the penal code amended earlier this year to introduce death sentence and jail terms for child rapists.

Hormones or chemicals given to a child for early sexual maturity will also be listed under the criminal offence. Shelter home staff, who give or receive benefits for sexually assaulting a child, will get a minimum of 20 years in jail.

If the formalities are completed on time, the amendments will be put before Parliament for its approval during the monsoon session beginning next week.

In 2015, the Centre had blocked hundred of portals with adult content on grounds of morality and decency. However, the directive was revoked after a raging backlash on social media.

There has been, however, a unanimity that child porn should be banned completely.

Publishing, transmitting and downloading child porn was declared a crime by the government under the Information Technology Act in 2008.