CHENNAI: There is no doubt that children are addicted to online games and mobiles but courts cannot order regulation of such issues on the basis of the personal sense of morality of a petitioner or judges, the Madras high court observed on Thursday.
This is not for the court to impose restrictions, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said. However, the bench added that the court can step in if the executive fails to act on any representation made in this regard.
“There is no doubt that children and young adults these days are addicted to their phones and their world appears to revolve around their mobile phones. Often a family could be together sitting at a table but each member using the phone even to describe the dish that they may be having or the quality of the food at the moment,” the bench said.
However, courts should be slow in entering into such areas on the personal sense of morality of the individual complainant or of the judges concerned, the court asserted.
Instead of the court issuing a dictate, such matters of policy should be left to the wisdom of those representing the people when elected governments are in place, the bench said.
The court made the observations on a PIL moved by E Martin Jayakumar seeking direction to the Union government to regulate online gaming that are detrimental to children and young adults.
This is not for the court to impose restrictions, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said. However, the bench added that the court can step in if the executive fails to act on any representation made in this regard.
“There is no doubt that children and young adults these days are addicted to their phones and their world appears to revolve around their mobile phones. Often a family could be together sitting at a table but each member using the phone even to describe the dish that they may be having or the quality of the food at the moment,” the bench said.
However, courts should be slow in entering into such areas on the personal sense of morality of the individual complainant or of the judges concerned, the court asserted.
Instead of the court issuing a dictate, such matters of policy should be left to the wisdom of those representing the people when elected governments are in place, the bench said.
The court made the observations on a PIL moved by E Martin Jayakumar seeking direction to the Union government to regulate online gaming that are detrimental to children and young adults.
