Circulating Indecent Videos Of Children, Blackmailing Them For Gains 'Serious Offences'; Society Struggling To Deal With The Menace: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has recently observed that circulating indecent videos of young children and blackmailing them for gains are very serious offences in this age of information technology.

Further, stressing that the society is still struggling to evolve methods to deal with this menace, the Bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot dismissed the bail plea of one Narendra Singh who has been accused of recording and threatening to circulate an indecent video depicting the 14-year-old girl in an inappropriate manner.

Essentially, the 14-year-old victim, in her statement made under Section 164 Cr.P.C. categorically stated that an indecent video depicting her in an inappropriate manner was recorded by the applicant and thereafter, he blackmailed her and threatened to propagate the indecent video among the public at large.

Appearing for the state, the Counsel argued that the applicant is of tender age and the acts of the applicant clearly show that he can threaten the victim and influence the course of the trial.

In view of this, dismissing the bail, the Court observed thus:

"At this stage, no case for bail is made out. Circulating indecent videos of young children and blackmailing them for gains are very serious offences in this age of information technology. Society is still struggling to evolve methods to deal with this menace."

However, the trial court has been asked to make all the endeavours to ensure that the criminal case is decided within a period of one year. The prosecution agencies as well as accused persons have been directed to cooperate in the trial proceedings to ensure that the trial is concluded within the stipulated period of one year.

After calling on the Centre to draft the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling complaints involving child pornography, the Supreme Court had in December 2018 directed the Centre to frame the necessary guidelines or SOP and implement them within two weeks.