Held: Media reporting in criminal matters involves degree of public interest associated with the fundamental right u/Art. 19(1)(a) – Guidelines for conducting media briefings were prepared by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs over a decade ago – Since then with the upsurge in the reporting of crime, the print media, the electronic and social media have evolved significantly – There should be a Standard Operating Procedure which balances out the considerations – There is a need to have a uniform policy – Nature of the disclosure cannot be uniform since it must depend upon the nature of the crime and the profile of the stake holders, including victims, witnesses and the accused themselves – Disclosure should not result in a media trial – Media trials are liable to result in a derailment of justice by impacting upon the evidence adduced and its assessment by the adjudicating authorities – In view thereof, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to prepare a comprehensive manual/guidelines on media briefings by police personnel, within the stipulated period – Issuance of direction to all the Directors General of Police to give their suggestions to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the views of National Human Rights Commission would also be considered.[Paras 6, 17,18,19 and 20]
LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
People’s Union for Civil Liberties v State of Maharashtra (2014) 10 SCC 635: [2014] 12 SCR 54; A K Gopalan v Noordeen (1969) 2 SCC 734; Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited v Securities and Exchange Board of India (2012) 10 SCC 603: [2012] 12 SCR 256 – referred to. OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED
ORDER AND APPEARANCES
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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