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The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that downloading, storing and viewing child pornography constitutes an offense under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Pocso) Act and that receiving and viewing such content is not an offence. On January 11, the Madras High Court quashed the criminal case against 28-year-old S. Harish from Chennai, who was accused of downloading pornographic content featuring children on his mobile phone. A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. The Supreme Court has dismissed a criminal case against a man from Chennai, saying that in addition to creating and downloading child pornography, publishing and distributing child pornography is now also a is a crime. The organization called on the central government to draft an amendment to replace the words “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse and exploitative material.” The court also ordered other courts not to use the term “child pornography” in their decisions.

In March, the Supreme Court challenged the Madras High Court's decision, calling it "brutal". CJI Chandrachud said: “This (Supreme Court verdict) is appalling. The court reserved the verdict in April. While the Madras High Court has quashed the FIR and criminal case against the Chennai man for watching child pornography, children these days are struggling with it." Watch pornography and society says, "Enough is enough" to educate them . NGOs led by senior advocate HS Phoolka have filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court's order on the grounds that this action promotes child pornography and is contrary to the welfare of children and creates the impression that downloading and Possessing child pornography is not a crime, which increases the demand for child pornography and encourages people to engage innocent children in pornography.”