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‘What business does police have’: SC on cops parading suspects before media
The Supreme Court asked the Centre to think how the arrests impact people who are later found innocent. “This destroys the person, his family and leads to irreversible damage to his honour”
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday told Centre to respond within a month on the need for guidelines related to arrests, observing that the police move to parade suspects before the media led to “irreversible” damage when they were later found to be innocent.
“The Centre must think about the issue how people are being victimised in this manner. Ultimately when they are held innocent, a lot of time has passed. This destroys the person, his family and leads to irreversible damage to his honour,” a bench of justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Dutta said during the hearing on a petition by Uttar Pradesh resident Praveen Kumar Parv, who said he was arrested by the anti-terrorist squad of Uttar Pradesh police on a false complaint in 2021. Parv said he was released by the police once it was convinced of his innocence but the ignominy suffered during the period of his detention led to him being branded a terrorist.
The top court first issued notice to the Centre and states in August 2022 on the petition that sought directions to bar the police from police disclosing names and details of suspect at the preliminary stage in ongoing criminal cases or making public statements on the guilt of a suspect.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for Parv, said the top court should lay down minimum standards on the police releasing information about suspects and cases to the public. She also added that the central government was yet to respond to the petition although six state governments have filed their response.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju said the Centre will file its response.
The bench underlined that this was a very important issue.
“Your (Centre’s) response will be very crucial in this case,” the court said as it posted the matter for September 26.
During the proceedings, the bench wondered why police officers often produced professional criminals and gangsters before the media upon their arrest.
“What business does the police have to do this. You (Centre) must respond whether guidelines exist and if so, whether they are sufficient and are being followed.”
The petition said that the principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty should apply in such cases and where a person arrested on a suspicion is released, a duty is cast upon the police to make this fact public by issuing an apology especially in sensational cases such as those where allegations relate to charges of terrorism, riot, communal disharmony etc.
“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 filed by advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi said.
The petition also recalled that the Supreme Court in March 2017, while dealing with a petition filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, directed the Centre to finalise a guidelines for the police on ‘media briefings’. However, till date, the central government has failed to respond to the directive. It added that the case was last listed for a hearing on March 29, 2017.
