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Amendment to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act
Why in news
- In an amendment to POCSO Act Cabinet has approved a new definition for child pornography.
- Amendment to the Act are likely to be introduced in Parliament in days to come.
More in news
- Amendments to the Act
- New definition for child pornography - Any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child which include photographs, video, digital or computer generated image indistinguishable from an actual child and an image created, adapted or modified but appear to depict a child.
- The need for a new definition of child pornography is because neither Section 67 of the IT Act nor Section 293 of the Indian Penal Code define what child pornography is.
- Watching, possessing or circulating animations or cartoons that depict a minor engaging in a sexually explicit conduct could be punished with a jail term.
- According to Women and Child Development Ministry, the law will also apply to pornographic content where adults or young adults pretend to be children.
- The Cabinet has also enhanced the fine for possessing child porn to INR 5,000 from the earlier proposal of INR 1,000.
- Some of these provisions were also contained in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Amendment Bill, 2019, during the interim-Budget session of Parliament, but the bill lapsed.
Source
The Hindu