SC seeks replies from Centre, intermediaries on plea against police sharing photos of accused on social media

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, sates and intermediaries to respond to a plea aimed at preventing police officials from uploading photos and videos of an accused on social media to safeguard the latter’s fundamental right to fair trial.

Taking note of the petitioner’ view that revealing identities of accused could prejudice their right to fair trial, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi and Justice V Mohana took note of a suggestion for having in place guidelines for use of social media by police organisations.

At the same time, CJI Surya Kant wondered how preventing police from sharing photos online could prevent the circulation of the content in the digital ecosystem.

“his is not a border that you can just close down,” CJI Kant said, agreeing with the need to prevent the uploading of content that reveals faces or identities of accused.

During the hearing, petitioner Hemendra Patel was represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who shared images and videos depicting accused in handcuffs or being made to kneel.

Stressing on the need for uniform guidelines at the national level, Sankaranarayanan said that there is a crying need for an operational mechanism to prevent police-generated content violating the rights of an accused, who is still to be proved guilty.

He added that similar issues have been examined in some High Courts earlier but there is scope for a uniform national framework to prevent police organisations from circulating photos and videos of the accused.

The petition, which made the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and social media platforms respondents in the matter, also sought a formal, transparent and structured mechanism for prompt removal of such content in case of an objection.

A reference was also made to a matter in Rajasthan High Court in January wherein the judges ordered a takedown of social media content related to an accused under arrest.

Following this case, the state police issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) curbing the practice of uploading or sharing of photos and videos of arrested persons on social media or with mediapersons.

–IANS

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