NEW DELHI, Aug 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, all states and Union Territories, as well as social media platforms Meta and X, on a PIL seeking to restrain police organisations from posting content online that reveals the identities of accused persons or portrays them in a dehumanising manner.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of submissions by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for petitioner Hemendra Patel, and issued notices to the respondents.
The PIL seeks directions to states to frame guidelines governing the use of social media by police organisations and prevent the publication of posts revealing the faces or identities of accused persons.
The plea also referred to instances in which accused persons were allegedly shown handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks, forced to kneel or dragged, describing such portrayals as inhuman and degrading.
The petitioner has sought directions for police authorities to remove such content from their social media handles and ensure that similar material is not published in the future.
The plea also seeks directions to Meta and X to formulate policies and guidelines to prevent the posting of content that reveals the identities of accused persons or depicts them being subjected to inhuman or dehumanising treatment.
It further seeks a transparent mechanism for the prompt removal of such content when reported by users.
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Meta Platforms Inc and X Corp have been made respondents in the matter.
