People stop cars to shoot videos of an accident, not help the dying on the road, says CJI

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Friday (March 21, 2026) highlighted the growing insensitivity in society in which even the busiest people stop their cars and rush to a road accident sites, not to help the dying victims, but to record videos for social media.

The Chief Justice, who was heading a three-judge Bench, made this observation in response to a writ petition regarding the police’s use of social media handles to give out details of the names and faces of people whom they consider suspects. The petition drew the attention of the court to how the police often cooperate with the media by allowing them to photograph accused persons and even parade them in handcuffs and ropes.

“This amounts to a critical violation of Article 21 [fundamental right to dignity] of the Constitution of the accused,” senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for petitioner Hemendra Patel, submitted.

Mr. Sankaranarayanan said the consequential effect of such conduct is public ire when the courts finally grant bail to the accused.

“The entire functioning of the criminal justice administration is undermined,” he submitted.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that the problem must be examined in the broader canvas of the right to fair trial. The judge said the police must act in a responsible and reasonable manner and must not exhibit bias as an investigating agency was neither pro-accused nor pro-victim, but an entity bent on unravelling the truth, which would consequentially be adjudicated by the courts in a dispassionate and forensic manner in a trial.

Rule of law subverted

Justice Bagchi said the “cloud or vitiating atmosphere” created by media trials has subverted the rule of law.

“A vitiating atmosphere is created through third parties and an indulgent media continues to spin yarns and stories,” Justice Bagchi said.

The court highlighted the need to control an “atomised” social media from derailing the fundamental right to fair trial. Mr. Sankaranarayanan remarked that the “problem today is everybody with a mobile phone is a media person”.

“The problem with the media is it feels it should be an irritant, but being an irritant it kills the process itself… ,” Justice Bagchi remarked.

Joining the debate in court, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta said social media also has a sinister side. He said there were virtual platforms which operate as “blackmailers”. The Chief Justice agreed with Mr. Mehta that such platforms were a “different facet” of the digital arrests scam.

The court however asked Mr. Sankaranarayanan to withdraw the petition with liberty to file a more comprehensive one by April after examining the compliance by States to a new manual on police briefings. The manual was prepared by Mr. Sankaranarayanan, as the Supreme Court’s amicus curiae in a separate case filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, an NGO, as a step towards establishing a “principled, rights-compatible and investigation-safe framework” in police-media briefings.

In January, a Bench headed by Justice M.M. Sundresh had given States three months to comply with the manual’s recommendations, which outlines best practices to be followed by the police while interacting with the media in an ongoing investigation.

The manual, which was published in the Supreme Court website, emphasized the importance of the police sharing only accurate, verified, and necessary information with the public in the age of social media. This is crucial to prevent the spread of misinformation, which can disrupt law and order and compromise the fairness of trials.