The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Union government, all states and social media platforms X and Meta on a petition seeking directions to prevent the police from posting content that reveals the identities of accused persons or depicts them in dehumanising ways, PTI reported.

The public interest litigation, filed by a Gujarat resident, also sought directions to the police to remove existing posts of this nature from their social media handles.

Further, the petition urged the court to order state government to frame guidelines on the use of social media by the police authorities, PTI reported.

The public interest litigation sought directions to Meta and X to frame policies and guidelines preventing the disclosure of accused persons’ identities and the posting of content depicting them being treated in inhuman or derogatory ways, the news agency reported.

The petitioner referred to photographs and videos of individuals accused of crimes being handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks and made to kneel.

The petitioner had earlier approached the Supreme Court with a plea challenging the police practice of uploading photos of accused persons on their social media handles, Live Law reported. At the time, the court had noted that directions passed in a separate case about media briefings by the police could cover social media posts as well.

In March, the Supreme Court allowed the petitioner to withdraw the plea while permitting him to approach the court with a broader petition, reported Live Law.

Edited by *Sara Varghese. *

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