Supreme Court Directs Government to Establish Guidelines for Police Media Briefings

In a bid to ensure “fair and unbiased” media coverage of ongoing criminal investigations, the Supreme Court issued directives on Wednesday, urging the Central government to create a new manual outlining guidelines for police officers when briefing the media about such cases.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, leading a bench that included Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Manoj Misra, called upon the Union Home Ministry to craft a manual specifically addressing media briefings conducted by the police, especially in sensitive cases, with a focus on safeguarding the integrity of the investigation and the rights of both the accused and the victim. Emphasizing that “biased reporting also gives rise to public suspicion that the person has committed an offence,” the bench underscored that media reports could potentially violate the privacy of victims. They stressed that partial reporting could harm the reputations of both accused individuals and victims, and had the potential to disrupt the investigation process.

The bench highlighted the importance of striking a “delicate balance” between the fundamental right to free speech and expression, the rights of the accused to a fair investigation, and the privacy of victims. The court appointed senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan as amicus curiae to assist in the matter. Acknowledging the significant changes that have occurred since the existing manual was last framed over a decade ago, Sankaranarayanan noted, “We cannot restrain the media from reporting, but the sources can be restrained because the source is the State. Even in the Aarushi case, so many versions were given to the media.”

The Supreme Court ordered the development of an updated manual governing police briefings to the media regarding ongoing criminal investigations, recognizing the evolution in media coverage of such cases over the past decade. The court observed that both print and electronic media played a crucial role in these cases, involving various layers of public interest. These include the public’s right to information during an investigation, the potential impact of police disclosures on the investigative process, the rights of the accused, and the overall administration of justice.

The Union Home Ministry was granted a three-month timeline to create this handbook for the manual. While preparing the manual on police-media briefings, the ministry was instructed to seek input from the heads of state and Union Territories’ police forces, as well as the National Human Rights Commission. The bench scheduled a follow-up hearing for January 2024, cautioning against media trials and the prejudgment of guilt by the police during briefings.

This direction from the Supreme Court to formulate a new manual governing police-media briefings on ongoing investigations stemmed from a public interest plea by the NGO People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which sought the establishment of guidelines for the reporting of criminal cases and encounter killings.