Die Indien-Äußerung der Bundesfamilienministerin, wonach Kinderpornografie dort nicht geächtet ist, hat zahlreiche Leser nicht ruhen lassen. Ich habe viele Kopien von E-Mails an die indische Botschaft erhalten. Nun liegt auch eine erste Antwort vor:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please refer to your email expressing doubts about the legal provisions in India for combating child abuse and child pornography.

The contention that there are no laws in India against child pornography and that child abuse is legal in India is totally unfounded and misleading.

The Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 have several provisions to punish child abuses e.g. Section 354 dealing with outraging the modesty of a woman, Section 375 dealing with the offence of rape (any act consensual or otherwise with a minor is considered rape) Section 377 dealing with unnatural acts and offences. These cover the crimes related to the child abuse in a comprehensive manner.

To deal with the cases of child pornography in the electronic form,the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 ? was enacted on 5 February 2009. As per Section 67 sub-clauses B(a) & (b) of this Act, it is a criminal offence in India to publish,transmit,collect,create,seek,promote,advertise,exchange or distribute material in any electronic form depicting children in obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner. Conviction for such offences is punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years and a fine up to Rs 1 million (Euros 15000/- approx). It is an equal offence in India to browse or download any such material and is punishable with the same sentence and fine.

The sub-clauses B (c) to (e) cover other offences related to online abuse of children. Full text of the Section 67 B of the said act is given below for your information. German translation of the message is also appended.

Ashutosh Agrawal
First Secretary (Info & Press)
Embassy of India Berlin