The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday described as “institutional humiliation” a practice followed by Jaisalmer Police of parading persons arrested in a matter and circulating their photographs on social media before adjudication of guilt, The Indian Express reported.
Justice Farjand Ali ordered the removal of the photographs published by the police on social media platforms within 24 hours, Bar and Bench reported.
Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees “not merely the right to life, but the right to live with dignity, honour and self-respect”, The Indian Express quoted the court as saying.
The judge noted that persons do not lose their right to dignity after they are arrested.
The order was issued on a petition filed by 10 residents of Jaisalmer challenging the practice.
The petitioners contended that police officers routinely made persons accused of offences sit at the entrance of police stations, Bar and Bench reported. The accused persons are also photographed and their images shared publicly.
The practice extended to women as well, the petitioners alleged. This included unmarried young girls, whose photographs were allegedly shared without formal determination of their guilt, they added.
The petitioners argued that the images posted on social media and published in local newspapers created a public perception of guilt.
They added that arrested persons were also often made to strip down to their undergarments before being confined to imprisonment cells.
On Tuesday, the court observed that forcing those arrested to sit on the floor, stripping or partially disrobing them, photographing them in degrading conditions, and posting those images on social media or in newspapers, amounted to institutional humiliation and a direct assault on human dignity, The Indian Express reported.
“Even a person accused of an offence continues to be clothed with basic human rights,” the newspaper quoted Ali as saying. “In the case of unmarried women, the consequences can be devastating, affecting their prospects of marriage, social acceptance and psychological well-being.”
The court said that such conduct was “plainly inhuman, degrading and violative of the bare minimum human rights guaranteed to every individual, irrespective of the accusations against him”, Bar and Bench reported.
Such acts also amounted to a clear infraction of the constitutional guarantees, the bench added.
The impact of the sharing images, especially on social media, of persons accused of an offence could be lasting as such material remains accessible in the public domain, the judge said. He added that even if an accused was later acquitted, the harm to their reputation and social standing might never be fully undone.
Ali further noted that there was no law that authorised the police to take such actions, adding that the practices appeared unfair, unjustified and beyond their legal powers, Bar and Bench reported.
The court sought responses from senior police officers to the petition. It also directed the police commissioner to file a reply outlining the safeguards put in place to prevent a repeat of such incidents.
The matter will be heard next on January 28.
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