'Unless the judge himself watches the cassette, it cannot be called an obscene video', High Court's decision in a 20-year-old case:

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Kerala High Court has acquitted a man who was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment 20 years ago for selling video cassettes containing obscene material. A single bench of Judge Kauser Edappagath acquitted Harikumar, a resident of Kottayam, on the ground that both the magistrate court which convicted and sentenced him and the sessions court which upheld his conviction did not view the video cassettes to ascertain whether they contained obscene material.

Watch the video yourself first

The court said that when a video cassette is produced as evidence under Section 292 (sale of obscene books, etc) of the Indian Penal Code, it is necessary for the court to view the video itself and ascertain whether it actually contains obscene material or not.

Unless the judge himself watches the video cassette

In its August 8 judgment, the high court said, "In other words, unless the court or the judge itself sees the video cassette and is convinced that it contains obscene material, it cannot be said that there is any concrete evidence before the court to prove the offence under Section 292."

Lower court's approach to interpreting law is wrong

The court also said that direct examination of the video cassette was necessary in this case, which was not done. The verdict said, 'The entire approach of both the lower court and the appellate court to interpret the evidence and the law was wrong.'

Magistrate and Sessions Court were challenged

The High Court, while hearing Harikumar's revision petition, cancelled his conviction and sentence and acquitted him. In his petition, Harikumar had challenged the decisions of both the magistrate and the sessions court.