Plea before Supreme Court seeks guidelines to regulate media interaction by police, protect identity of accused

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking uniform guidelines to govern media interactions by police departments across the country when it comes to ongoing investigations [Praveen Kumar Parv v Union of India]..A bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian was hearing a petition which said that such guidelines are required to protect rights of suspects and accused persons in criminal investigations.The petitioner stated that he himself had been questioned and detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (UP-ATS) in connection with a criminal case, but it was eventually found that he did not have any involvement.The petitioner claimed that he continues to face societal prejudice due to his detention despite having been given a clean chit by the UP-ATS.“The petitioner, therefore, has approached this Court seeking, inter alia, appropriate guidelines/directions to be issued to all Police Departments in the country with regard to ensuring the right to dignity, of equality and liberty of a suspect/accused in criminal investigation while interacting with the media”, the plea said..The PIL filed through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi and drawn by advocates Ibad Mushtaq and Akanksha Rai stressed on the need to issue such guidelines, and also put in place a bar on disclosing a suspect or accused person's identity..Further, the petitioner emphasised on the importance of the investigating agency making every effort to restore the dignity of someone who has been cleared of allegations.“The mere fact of a person being arrested is sufficient to destroy such person’s reputation in the society and therefore it becomes obligatory upon the Police/Investigating Agency to make every possible effort so as to restore the lost reputation and thereby ensuring the right to dignity of such individuals,” the petition said..The plea also urged the court to consider the recent trend of investigating agencies leaking charge-sheets or details of sensitive cases to the media, or such details being otherwise accessed by the media even before such documents are submitted in court.“The class affected by the aforesaid and for whom the guidelines are being sought are the thousands of suspects who are named in investigation(s) but later let go,” it was submitted..The petition said that the manner of interaction between the police and media must take into account the human rights of the suspect or accused, while strictly following the principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty..In this regard, the petitioner sought a direction to the government to frame guidelines to prevent agencies from disclosing the identity of suspects or accused persons at preliminary stages in ongoing criminal cases.It has also been prayed that the court lay down minimum standards or guidelines for police officials and the media..Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy appeared for the petitioner.