Sakina Tashrifwala
Published on: September 8, 2022 at 19:24 IST
The Madras High court reflected on the recent advancement of technology which has made teenagers easily accessible to pornography which leads them to indulge in sexual offences overlooking the after effects of such acts.
A habeas corpus petition filed by the father of an 18-year old boy confined by the District Collector, holding him to be a “Sexual Offender” under Section 2(g) of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber Law Offenders, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Sexual Offenders, Slum-Grabbers, and Video Pirates Act 1982.
A Bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and N Anand Venkatesh highlighted the fact that only arresting these teenagers will not solve these problems, they have to attend to their mental state as well.
The court further remarked,
“The teenagers, who are easily exposed to pornography even from their mobile phones, get confused and misled at an age where they are in the grips of hormonal changes and they indulge in activities without understanding its consequences.”
“Once these teenagers re-arrested and kept inside the prison, efforts must be taken to attend to their mental perversion. The purpose of confining a teenager in the prison is not to abandon him and throw him out of the main stream of the society and all steps must be taken to reform such a person.”
The order of the District Collector was not accepted as it did not violate any of the procedural safeguards and the portrayal made by the petitioner was not considered on time due to an unexplainable delay.
The Court further submitted that there was a 5-day delay in the submission of remarks by the Detaining Authority and 21-day delay in considering the representation.
Nevertheless, the state reported that there was no prejudice to cause disorder and no violation of fundamental rights under Article 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
Further, due to the inordinate delay, the Court had to challenge the detention order and also decided to come up with a mechanism where these kinds of offenders are properly counselled and prepped to live a normal life.