The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre, the States, and social media platforms X and Meta, on a petition seeking directions to prevent police from uploading on social media photographs and videos that reveal the identities of accused persons or depict them in a dehumanising manner.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana heard the petition. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for the petitioner.

The petition seeks directions to the States to immediately take down posts published on official police social media accounts that reveal the faces or identities of accused persons or portray them in degrading or humiliating circumstances. The examples cited include images of accused persons being handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks, made to kneel, dragged or pulled down stairs.

The petitioner has also sought directions to the States to frame comprehensive guidelines governing the use of social media by police organisations, particularly to ensure that such content is not uploaded in the future.

A further prayer has been made against Meta-owned platforms Instagram and Facebook, seeking appropriate policies and user guidelines to prevent the posting of content that identifies persons accused of offences or depicts them being subjected to inhuman, derogatory or dehumanising treatment. The petition also seeks a formal and transparent mechanism for the prompt removal of such content when reported by users.

The present petition comes after an earlier plea filed by the same petitioner concerning the publication of images of accused persons by police on official social media accounts was disposed of by the Supreme Court in March this year.

In the earlier proceedings, the Court had noted that directions issued in a separate case concerning police media briefings could potentially cover social media postings as well. The petitioner had thereafter withdrawn the plea, with liberty to approach the Court with a fresh and broader petition.

The petition was filed through Advocate-on-Record Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj.

Case Details: HEMENDRA PATEL Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS | Diary No. 32704/2026