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2026 Supreme(SC) 86

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
M.M. SUNDRESH, NONGMEIKAPAM KOTISWAR SINGH, JJ.
Peoples Union for Civil Liberties & Anr. – Appellants
Versus
The State of Maharashtra & Ors. – Respondents
Criminal Appeal No(s). 1255 of 1999 With Crl. A. No. 1256 of 1999 Crl. A. No. 1367 of 1999 W.P.(C) No. 316 of 2008 Conmt. Pet. (C) No. 47 of 2011 In W.P.(c) No. 316 of 2008 T.C.(C) No. 27 of 2011 W.P. (Crl.) No. 380 of 2021
Decided On : 15-01-2026

Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) :Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Jayant Bajaj, Adv. For M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR Petitioner-in-person Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Nisha Bhambani, Adv. Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra, AOR Mr. P. N. Puri, AOR Mr. Dhiraj, Adv. Mr. Akshat Vachher, Adv.
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Gopal Shankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shivani Vij, AOR Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Tushar Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Samruti Gangadharaiaha, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG (NP) Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Santosh Ramdurg, Adv. Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gautam Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Anmol Chandan, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Diwakar Sharma, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Chinmayee Chandra, Adv. Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mrigank Pathak, Adv. Mr. T.A. Khan, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Manan Verma, AOR Ms. Anubha Dhulia, Adv. Mr. Sumit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Pranjal Tandon, Adv. Mr. Jayant Mohan, AOR Ms. Meenakshi Chaterjee, Adv. Ms. Adya Shree Dutta, Adv. Ms. Dorjee Ongmu Lachungpa, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Sikarwar, Adv. Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv. Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah, AOR Mr. Yashaswy Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Kshitij Singh, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Pragya Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Nishtha Sachan, Adv. Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR Mr. Rajat Srivastav, Adv. Mr. Manjit Solanki, Adv. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Harmeet Singh Ruprah, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv. Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Ms. Ankeeta Appanna, Adv. Mr. Ajay Bahuguna, Adv. Mr. Avdhesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G. Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Mr. Ambuj Swaroop, Adv. Mr. Kapil Katare, Adv. Ms. Rajnandani Kumari, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Mr. Saksham Gahoi, Adv. Mr. Vishwas Sharma, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Samarth Krishan Luthra, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Sarvjit Pratap Singh, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Nisha Bhambani, Adv. Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Ms. Yachna Sharma, Adv. Ms. Arushi Chopra, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR Mr. Piyush Vyas, Adv. Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv. Mr. Raj Kumar, Adv. Mr. Anand Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR Mr. Vikram Choudhary, Adv. Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Srikanth Varma Mudunuru, Adv. Mr. Akshat Kumar, AOR Mr. Vikas Negi, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Ms. Sonali Gaur, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Ms. Ankeeta Appanna, Adv. Mr. Ajay Bahuguna, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar Tripathi, AOR Mr. Somkirti Singhdeo, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Mr. Nimesh Bhatt, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Mr. Akshay Gupta, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv. Mr. Lenin Singh Hijam , Ag, Adv. Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Pooja Singh, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Harshad V. Hameed, AOR Mr. Dileep Poolakkot, Adv. Mrs. Ashly Harshad, Adv. Mr. Mahabir Singh, Adv. Dr. Arunender Thakur, Adv. Mr. Anshul Saharan, Adv. Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv. Mr. Aman Dev Sharma, Adv. Mr. Gaj Singh, Adv. Mr. Eashwar, Adv. Ms. Richa Verma, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Praveen Agrawal, AOR Mr. D. S. Mahra, AOR Mr. Abhisth Kumar, AOR M/S. Coac, AOR Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR Mr. Sudarshan Rajan, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Anil K. Chopra, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, AOR Mr. D. Mahesh Babu, AOR Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Beenu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Venkat Narayan, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Sumit Sinha, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Saurabh Trivedi, AOR Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Ms. Nupur Kumar, AOR Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR

The court mandated the States to adopt a policy for Media Briefing in line with the Police Manual, emphasizing the need for compliance within three months.

Headnote:(A) No specific laws or sections cited - Vital necessity for evolving a policy for Media Briefing by the States, as recognized through deliberations with the Union of India and international practices.

(B) The court emphasizes the implementation of the Police Manual for Media Briefing, ensuring timely action from the States within a three-month timeframe.

(C) The learned Amicus Curiae provided valuable assistance and prepared the manual, underlining the importance of proper media conduct and communication.

(D) The main issues addressed concern the lack of implementation of the Police Manual by the States and the necessity for uniform media briefing protocols. (E) The court's reasoning underscores the urgency of adopting the policy as advised by the Amicus Curiae and the consistent neglect by the States. (F)

Result: Appeals and writ petitions disposed of; contempt petition closed. (G) Parties involved: Appellants - People's Union for Civil Liberties; Respondents - State of Maharashtra and others.

Table of Content
1. court's directions on media briefing policies (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5)
2. disposition of applications and appeals (Para 6 , 7 , 8)

ORDER :

1. We take on record the laborious exercise undertaken by the learned Senior counsel Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who has been appointed as the Amicus Curiae to assist the Court.

2. The Police Manual for Media Briefing has been prepared by the learned Amicus, considering the views of the Union of India and the practices prevalent at the international level. Notwithstanding the time granted by this Court on earlier occasions, the States have not shown adequate interest in taking note of the Manual and doing the needful.

3. We do not want to keep these matter(s) pending any longer. We deem it appropriate to direct the States to evolve an appropriate policy for Media Briefing by taking into consideration the Police Manual for Media Briefing furnished by the learned Amicus Curiae. The needful will have to be done within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

4. The Registry is directed to upload the Police Manual for media Briefing on the Supreme Court Website within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

5. We once again place on record our appreciation for the able assistance rendered by the learned Amicus Curiae.

6. No orders are required in the applications for interventions and they are disposed of, accordingly.

7. The appeals and the writ petitions stand disposed of accordingly, and the Contempt Petition stands closed.

8. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of.

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