Should platforms that allegedly fail to report such content face criminal action? On a plea seeking exactly that, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to treat the circulation of Child Abuse Material on social media very seriously.
New Delhi: The Union government should take the issue of child sexual abuse material on social media very seriously, the Supreme Court said on October 15 while hearing an application that seeks criminal action against intermediaries alleged to have failed to report it to the authorities. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s response was that children are at stake [Just Rights for Children Alliance and Another v. S. Harish and Others].
The matter was heard by Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Union. Directions from this hearing were not available at the time of writing. The allegations against the platforms are those made in the application and are untested.
What the petitioners ask for
Among the reliefs sought are a uniform Standard Operating Procedure for detection, reporting and evidence preservation, prompt uploading of offender details to the National Database on Sexual Offenders, a central online reporting portal, and action against intermediaries that fail to report. Counsel for the petitioners told the Court at the September hearing that only two platforms had responded to requests for information from Indian authorities, and the Court allowed the petitioners to help draft the SOP and to submit a proposed draft.
A separate Delhi-based organisation has intervened. It argues that any SOP must not dilute the platforms’ direct reporting duties under the Act, and it has raised concerns about the role of an entity linked to one platform in drafting the SOP. These are the intervenor’s contentions, on which the Court has not ruled.
How the case got here
The application is rooted in the main judgment of September 23, 2024, authored by Justice Pardiwala. That ruling held that storing child sexual abuse material without deleting or reporting it shows an intent to transmit, an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and that intermediaries lose safe-harbour protection if they initiate, receive or modify the data. It also held that reporting to a US-based clearing house does not replace the separate duty to report to local police or the Special Juvenile Police Unit.
In August 2026 the Bench issued notice on Just Rights for Children Alliance’s application, filed after a media report alleged paid advertisements promoting such material on a social media platform, and told the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Law and Justice to file a counter or report. On September 24, 2026, the Court noted that its earlier order had not been complied with and that nothing was on record, and gave the two Ministries one last opportunity to respond within two weeks, explaining the steps taken to implement the 2024 directions and the precautions planned against lapses by intermediaries.
The Additional Solicitor General had said the report would be ready within a week.
What the Union has to show
At bottom, the case asks whether the 2024 ruling on reporting duties is being followed in practice. By asking again and again for a Union report, the Court has indicated that it wants the executive to say what has been done, not only what is planned, before it considers any action against intermediaries. Any fresh directions from the October 15 hearing will be known once the order is available.
Case Title: Just Rights for Children Alliance and Another v. S. Harish and Others [Diary No. 41028 of 2026, arising out of Crl. A. Nos. 2161-2162 of 2024]
Bench: Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran, Supreme Court of India
Date of Hearing: October 15, 2026
Appearances: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Union of India; other appearances not available
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