New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India Tuesday Nov 7, 2023 said the country needs better guidelines to protect journalists and media professionals.
The Apex Court also expressed serious concern over the seizures of digital devices like laptops, smart phones and others of journalists and asked the Centre to bring in better guidelines to regulate powers of investigating agencies.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing a petition by the Foundation for Media Professionals.
The foundation in its petition appealed the Supreme Court to bring in safeguards against undue interference by law enforcement agencies and create comprehensive guidelines for the search and seizure of digital devices.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal underscored the seriousness of the issues raised in the petition and the threats that law enforcement agencies' unmitigated search and seizure powers posed to constitutional guarantees.
"There are hundreds of journalists whose digital devices are taken away en masse. The issues raised in this petition are very significant because there are no guidelines with reference to when and what may be seized, what can be accessed, what kind of protection is ensured for personal data, health data, financial data", he said.
While hearing the case, Justice Kaul observed that it is very difficult to accept some kind of all-within power that the agencies have.
Calling this a very dangerous situation, the bench directed the Centre to bring in better guidelines. The petition comes in the wake of October 3 raids by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on houses of 46 journalists, editors, writers and professionals seemingly connected to the online news portal NewsClick.
Following the raids, several media organisations, including Press Club of India, Digipub News India Foundation and Indian Women Press Corps wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud in October seeking guidelines on police seizures of electronic devices of journalists.
The raids led to the arrest of NewsClick Founder and the HR Head of the news portal under the various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
“The fact is that today, a large section of journalists in India finds itself working under the threat of reprisal. And it is imperative that the judiciary confronts Power with fundamental Truth — that there is a Constitution to which we are all answerable” the letter said.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju appearing for the Centre told the court that the matter involves several complicated legal issues and requested the bench to adjourn the hearing for now.
The court deferred the hearing till December 6.
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