Archive · 18 Aug 2026
Supreme Court seeks Centre, states, Meta and X on PIL
The Supreme Court of India is the highest court in the country.
It has asked the government and social media companies to answer some questions.
A person named Hemendra Patel filed a petition saying police should not show pictures of people accused of crimes on social media.
Sometimes police posts show people handcuffed or being treated badly.
The petition says this is not fair, even if someone is accused of something.
The court wants states to remove such posts from police social media pages.
It also wants rules to stop police from posting these things in the future.
Social media companies like Meta and X are being asked to make their own rules too.
The court will decide what should happen after hearing everyone's answers.
The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre, all states, union territories, and social media platforms Meta and X on a PIL about police social media posts.
The PIL, filed by Hemendra Patel, seeks to prevent police organisations from revealing accused identities or depicting them in a dehumanising manner.
The petition asks states to forthwith remove police social media posts revealing the faces or identities of accused persons and to frame guidelines for police use of social media.
The plea cited images and videos showing accused persons handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks, made to kneel, dragged or pulled down stairs.
The PIL also seeks directions to Meta Platforms Inc and X Corp to frame policies preventing such content on Facebook and Instagram, with a formal mechanism for prompt takedown upon user reporting.
- Who
- A Supreme Court of India bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana heard a PIL filed by petitioner Hemendra Patel, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan.
- What
- The court sought responses on a PIL seeking to prevent police organisations from revealing the identities of accused individuals or depicting them in a dehumanising manner on social media.
- When
- Tuesday
- Where
- Supreme Court of India
- Why
- To consider whether police social media posts revealing accused identities or showing dehumanising treatment should be regulated and removed.
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Bench
- Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana
- Petitioner
- Hemendra Patel
- Petitioner's counsel
- Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan
- Advocate-on-record
- Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj
- Respondents
- Centre, all states, union territories, Meta and X
- Platforms named
- Meta Platforms Inc (Facebook, Instagram) and X Corp
- Examples cited
- Accused handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks, made to kneel, dragged or pulled down stairs
