Canadian Justice Minister Martin Cauchon speaks about the unveiling of new legislation against child pornography
Canadian Justice Minister Martin Cauchon speaks about the unveiling of new legislation against child pornography at a news conference in Ottawa, December 5, 2002. The legislation will protect teens from sexual exploitation and make voyeurism a crime. REUTERS/Jim Young

A 20-year-old Canadian faced several charges including the possession of child pornography. In addition, he was also charged for abduction, sexual assault, sexual interference and luring girls online.

Canadian police charged the Russell man after RCMP had arrested him over a couple of individual investigations. The man was reportedly involved in luring under-16 girl over the Internet for sexual purposes. According to the RCMP news release on Thursday, the girls were lured on various social networks. The man was arrested twice during the last couple of weeks. He was first arrested by Russell RCMP on Oct 4 and then by Virden RCMP on Oct 9, CBC News reported.

The suspect is now going to face courts separately in Virden and Russell as the charges against him were also different in both the cases. The man is expected to appear in Virden court on Oct 31 while his court date in Russell is on Nov 26. At the moment, he is released even though he has strict guidelines to abide by. According to CTV News, the name of the accused charged for child porn related charges is Blake David Dunn.

Different countries treat child porn in different manner. While the majority of the countries consider it to be a severe offence and demand the highest possible punishment for offenders, there are some countries where child porn is not considered to be grave issue. Countries like Australia and Canada have banned child porn in written, manga and cartoon forms. On the other hand, Possession child pornography is legal in European countries like Russia and Serbia, African countries like Zimbabwe and Namibia, South American countries like Argentina and Bolivia and Asian countries like Thailand and Myanmar.

BBC News earlier reported that American author John Grisham had criticised the U.S. legal system for being "harsh" toward those who watch child porn. According to him, the law should have treated them more leniently as they might have been under the influence of alcohol while they did so. Grisham, however, modified his comment on Thursday. "Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure... should be punished to the fullest extent of the law," he said.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au