New Delhi, Aug 17: The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response to allegations that social media intermediaries are failing to meet mandatory reporting obligations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, amid concerns over the availability of child sexual abuse material on online platforms. The court also examined a proposal for a centralised reporting mechanism to strengthen enforcement against such content.
A Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Chandran issued notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Law and Justice while hearing petitions seeking criminal action against intermediaries that allegedly fail to comply with statutory reporting requirements under the POCSO Act.
The petitions were filed by the Just Rights for Children Alliance (JRCA) and the Bachpan Bachao Andolan. They alleged that certain social media platforms not only failed to report instances of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) as required by law but also carried paid advertisements promoting such content.
The petitioners urged the court to direct the establishment of a centralised online mechanism through which intermediaries could report CSEAM cases and securely share digital evidence with Indian law enforcement agencies. According to the plea, many platforms currently report such cases to the United States-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) instead of directly informing Special Juvenile Police Units or local police authorities in India, as mandated under the POCSO Act.
The Supreme Court listed the matter for further hearing on September 24 and sought the Centre’s response to the proposal advanced by the petitioners.
The Bench also permitted the petitioners to implead social media intermediaries in the proceedings and pursue implementation of the Supreme Court’s directions issued on September 23, 2024, concerning reporting obligations under the POCSO framework.
The latest proceedings follow the Supreme Court’s observations made in 2024 that intermediaries cannot claim safe harbour protection under the Information Technology Act if they fail to fulfil mandatory reporting duties prescribed under the POCSO Act. The court had also clarified that compliance with due diligence requirements is essential for claiming such legal protection and that the provisions of the POCSO Act would prevail wherever they are inconsistent with other laws.
In its earlier observations, the apex court further stated that retaining child pornographic material without deleting it or reporting it to the authorities could indicate an intention to transmit such material and would amount to an offence under the POCSO Act.
