The Bombay High Court has directed Maharashtra government to modify a circular imposing restrictions on police and prosecutors about speaking to the media in any ongoing investigation.
A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni asked the government to issue a modified circular within a week, saying "there should not be a trial by the media".
The current circular does not specifically restrain prosecutors from disclosing information to media, it noted.
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Police or prosecutors speaking to the media about a case in which investigation is not yet over can affect quality of the probe, the bench said.
The HC had, last month, asked the government to come up with a policy to restrain police officers from disclosing to the media the identity and photographs of accused persons during the investigation. Such a disclosure violates the fundamental rights of the accused, it had said.
Government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani today said framing of the policy will take some time. Charusheela Tambeker, joint secretary, home department, said in an affidavit that government had issued a circular on October 10 restraining police from disclosing details of ongoing investigations.
Accordingly, the investigating officer, senior police officer, public prosecutor shall abstain from disclosing any information to the media that can infringe upon the right to privacy of any person.
