Young Persons Harmful Publications Act, 1956

Older readers in Mumbai remember the comic books that were passed around school benches and the bookstalls near railway stations that sold them. Some of those stories were full of crime and cruelty, drawn in bright pictures, and aimed straight at children. In the 1950s Parliament decided that some publications were not just badly written but harmful to the young, and passed a special Act. Today the same question appears in a new form: what should a child be allowed to see in print, on screen and online, and who decides?

In two minutes

The Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956 is a short central law that prohibits dealing in publications, chiefly picture-stories, that would tend to corrupt a young person by portraying crime, violence, cruelty or repulsive incidents.

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