Under Section 67 if any person publishes or transmits or causes to be published or

transmitted in the electronic form any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient
interest or if its efect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having
regarding to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or
embodied in it, shall be punished on frst conviction with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to three years and fne which may extend to fve lakh rupees
Section 67! pertains to publishing or transmitting or causing to be published or transmitted in
the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act or conduct can be
punished on frst conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to fve years and with fne which may extend to ten lakh rupees
"he !ct therefore, makes provision for punishment of a person against whom a complaint is
fled, if such person commits the ofence which falls within the purview of section 67 or 67! as
the case may be Such person can be tried and convicted #or that prosecution will have to
establish that an ofence has been committed
Janhit Manch and Others v. Union of India (PIL No. 155 of 2009)
$y the present petition what the petitioner seeks is that this court which is a protector of free
speech to the citi%ens of this country, should interfere and direct the respondents to make a
coordinated and sustained eforts to close down the websites as aforestated &nce 'arliament
in its wisdom has enacted a law and has provided for the punishment for breach of that law
any citi%en of this country including the 'etitioner who is aggrieved against any action on the
part of any other person which may amount to an ofence has a right to approach the
appropriate forum and lodge a complaint upon which the action can be taken if an ofence is
disclosed (ourts in such matters, the guardian of the freedom of free speech, and more so a
constitutional court should not embark on an exercise to direct State !uthorities to monitor
websites )f such an exercise is done, then a party aggrieved depending on the sensibilities of
persons whose views may difer on what is morally degrading or prurient will be sitting in
*udgment, even before the aggrieved person can lead his evidence and a competent court
decides the issue "he +egislature having enacted the law a person aggrieved may fle a
complaint
)n the light of that we are not inclined to interfere in the exercise of our extra,ordinary
*urisdiction )f the petitioner comes across any website-s which according to him publishes or
transmits any act which amounts to ofence under section 67 or 67! of the )nformation
"echnology !ct, .///, it is upto him to fle a complaint
Karthie!an " v Union of India
"he court refused to direct the government to take proactive steps to curb access to )nternet
pornography stating that such matters re0uire case,by,case analysis to be constitutionally
valid under !rticle 123143a4 35ight to #reedom of Speech and 6xpression4
#tate$ents7
'ramila !derson was a fctional character invented by 8ay*ay 9esou%a, a law student and
Sukhdev Singh "he cartoon portrayed the life of an adventurous :; year house,wife "he
comic was 0uite sexually explicit, both textually and graphically )t was 0uite popular as it was
again demanded at the alumni meeting
"hey took the idea on the basis of demand and registered a website "hey asked readers to
contribute who used to give illustrated contributions free of cost, ie at their own will "his
signifes the consent and acceptance of by the general public 1//// readers contributing for
free is not a thing to be ignored
"hey entered to company and capital of .1< crore and also referred as brown $arbie by
western media "his shows the acceptance by the mass media which helped and thus the
company stands at such huge amount and moreover the media which plays vital role in mass
communication referred about it and till then there was no ob*ection as such "his clearly
shows the acceptance of the comic by the mass media
"hey were even hailed for e0ual employment policy and staf welfare measures Some
indignation was there in the initial stage but people didn=t bother about it