Reining In Police Media Briefings: A Rights Compatible Communication Manual

Introduction

The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties & Anr. vs. State of Maharashtra¹ directing States to set guidelines and standards to evolve a policy for Media Briefing by taking into consideration the Police Manual for Media Briefing², which was prepared by the Amicus Curiae of the case. A step has been taken by the Supreme Court to make sure that the practice of police media briefing in India be upheld to prevalent international practices, and make a systemic change for media briefings by the police into a principled, rights compatible and investigation safe framework. The court provided the States to do the needful and prepare state specific guidelines within a time period of 3 months.