Downloading and watching child pornography is an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Supreme Court ruled today in a landmark judgment on the stringent law to prevent child abuse.

The bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala set aside the Madras High Court order that had ruled that merely downloading and watching child pornography was not an offence under the POCSO Act. The Supreme Court noted that the high court had committed an "egregious error" in passing the judgment.

The Madras High Court's order had come in a case in which a 28-year-old man was charged with downloading child pornography on his cellphone. The court had quashed the criminal proceedings against the man and said children these days are grappling with the serious issue of watching pornography and society must be mature enough to educate them instead of punishing them.

The Supreme Court today restored the criminal proceedings against the man and stated that publishing and sharing child pornographic content was already an offence, apart from creating and downloading such material.

It asked the central government to bring in an amendment to replace the word 'child pornography' with 'child sexually abusive and exploitative material'. It also directed other courts not to use the word 'child pornography' in any of its orders.

Monday's Supreme Court ruling came after it heard a plea filed by Just Rights for Children Alliance, a coalition of NGOs, which was represented by senior advocate HS Phoolka. The petitioner approached the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court's order, stating that this would encourage child pornography and go against the well-being of children.