Plea In Supreme Court Seeks To Collect Data On Link Between Pornography & Sexual Crimes

In the light of the alarming increase in cases of sexual assault and rape against women and innocent children in various parts of the country, a writ petition has been filed in Supreme Court seeking formulating a SOP by police to examine the impact of viewing of pornographic material while investigation of the said cases.

Preferred by Nalin Kohli as petitioner in person, it has been argued in the plea that it is imperative for procedure/guideline be put in place to enable the authorities take proactive steps towards tackling the menace of crimes against children and women.

"It is not surprising that news articles as well as police investigations on rape and murder are increasingly pointing towards the existence of a link between watching pornographic content and/ or sexually explicit content particularly of a violent / non-consensual nature that appear to have acted as a stimulus for committing rape and/or sexual assault, and thereafter even murder, in an attempt to eliminate evidence," the plea states.

Kohli in his petition has also referred to a recent investigation by Assam Police of Nagaon District wherein a link was established between the four accused(s) who were porn addicts and gruesome murder of a 6 year old girl child.

It has been said that, "As a consequence of this, the Assam Police has issued Guidelines to be followed by the I.O.s for collecting digital evidence while investigating offences related to rape, molestation and other sexual offences."

"There is an urgent need for qualitative data to be collated and analysed by a specialised agency such as the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) that enumerates the various factors leading to the increasing incidents of rape and sexual assault and specifically focussing on the link between viewing pornographic material and the sexual assault and rape against women and children," plea states.

In this backdrop, petitioner in the petition has also sought relief for issuance of directions authorities of all the state police organisations, to collect data in a time bound manner on the specific issue of investigations to confirm a link between viewing of pornographic material and acts of rape.

Case Title: Nalin Kohli@ Nalin Satyakam Kohli V. Union Of India & Others