The petition has been moved by advocate Nalin Kohli. (File)
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to direct the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) to collect data in a time-bound manner from all the state police organisations on investigations revealing a direct link between viewing pornographic material and rape.
The petition has been moved by advocate Nalin Kohli, who has apprised the Court about an investigation by the Police in Assam into the gruesome murder of a six-year-old girl wherein it has been revealed that the four perpetrators of the crime, including two minor boys between eight and 11, were porn addicts.
As a consequence of this, the Assam Police has issued guidelines to be followed by the investigating officer for collecting digital evidence while investigating offences related to rape, molestation and other sexual offences.
The petitioner sought the direction of the Court to all the state police organisations to collect data in a time-bound manner on the linkage between the viewing of pornographic material and rape and also consider formulating an SOP by its police to include the aspect of viewing of pornographic material while investigating cases of rape and sexual assault.
The petitioner has urged the Court to direct the state governments to urgently make available such data from their respective police and investigation agencies to the BPRD.
The petitioner argued that there's an alarming increase in cases of sexual assault and rape against women and innocent children in various parts of the country. He also said that he feels responsible to raise this issue which may have significant and long-term implications in terms of preventing incidents of sexual abuse and violence against women and children.
"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 appears to have acted as a stimulus for committing rape and/or sexual assault, and thereafter even murder, in an attempt to eliminate evidence," the petitioner said.
Unfortunately, our newspapers on a daily basis are filled with extremely disturbing and distressing news of rape and sexual abuse against all age groups, the petitioner further said.
"The most appalling fact of such news is that many of the victims of such crimes are children, including infants. This becomes a matter of even greater concern in an environment where sex education for appropriate sexual behaviour is not part of the education system and treated as socially inappropriate and even a taboo," the petitioner said.
Studies have highlighted the link between pornographic viewing and sexual crimes against women and children, the petition said.