NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed serious concerns over the infectious trend of each person with a mobile phone becoming media and instantaneously uploading videos on social media platforms and said such activities posed a grave threat to fair trial of accused.A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said this while hearing a PIL which alleged that police upload videos and photographs of arrested accused on their social media handles, creating a bias in people’s mind, who later blame the judiciary if they get acquitted for lack of evidence.The bench agreed with senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that “every person with a mobile phone has become media” and observed that whenever there is an accident, people take out their mobile phones to create content even when a person is bleeding on the road.
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Justice Bagchi told the petitioner that instead of talking of social media handles of police, which in all states have been given three months by the SC to formulate and comply with a standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding police-media briefings to balance transparency in investigation, right to information and right to fair trial of accused, it should seek a comprehensive mechanism for police, conventional and social media. He said, “On a larger canvas, we believe police should not create a bias against the accused through its briefings. Police can be restrained through the SOP. But what about the media, especially social media, and the public? Can they be restrained? Comparatively, TV channels are much more restrained, even though one might disagree with their views.”Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said there are tabloids on social media which in an understatement could be characterised as “blackmailers”. Justice Bagchi said, “The problem is the atomised social media.”CJI Kant said, “It is akin to or a different facet of digital arrest. There is a tendency in towns and cities away from the national capital where people flaunt their credentials as media persons and boldly display it on their vehicles for ulterior designs.”Sankaranarayanan said, “I know a few advocates who sport ‘Supreme Court Advocate’ stickers on their cars to evade paying tolls on highways.” The bench said since the issue of fair trial for accused required a comprehensive approach, it would be better if the petition is withdrawn and refiled with an enlarged scope after April when the SOP for police would have been implemented.
