HC seeks govt opinion over FIR on child pornography

The High Court on Tuesday sought an opinion from the state government on registering the First Information Report (FIR) pertaining to 113 cases of child pornography, where the involved children are currently lodged at the state's Child Protection Centre.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur, while hearing a suo motu PIL based on the direction of the Supreme Court on implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act and Child Protection Policy, sought opinion on constituting a special investigation team (SIT) to look into child pornography cases.

Pragyan Sharma, advocate for the petitioner NGO — Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) - contended that as per the report by the Ministry of Child and Women Development, 113 cases of child pornography have been reported from Karnataka and all the children are currently held at the child protection centre. However, not a single FIR has been registered till date pertaining to the matter.

He submitted that the government had failed to constitute child protection committees and juvenile justice boards in the state, district and taluk level, which is mandatory. The report, according to petitioners, has also revealed that every district has an alarming number of Pocso cases, but has no trained public prosecutors or police to engage with these cases.