HC seeks to cease police from leaking alleged confession statements of accused to media

The Kerala High Court has directed the Director General of Prosecution (DGP) to instruct the State Police Chief to challenge a round stopping the alleged custodial confession statements of accused individuals from being leaked to the media.

Even if in sure circumstances parts of such statements are made public, the police ought to make clear that they aren’t admissible as proof towards the accused in a prison trial, stated a Division Bench of Justice A.Okay. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian.

The media ought to act responsibly by not reporting such confession statements. A bigger bench of the courtroom had clarified final yr {that a} last and authoritative willpower of guilt or innocence of an accused particular person may very well be pronounced solely by a judicial authority. If the media expresses any such definitive opinion immediately or not directly, such statements wouldn’t get the safety of free speech below Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution, the courtroom stated.

The courtroom famous that such acts of indiscretion by the police would have the undesirable impact of jeopardising the prison justice system within the nation. It would additionally erode public religion within the judicial establishment, the courtroom stated, whereas referring to latest media experiences on this regard.

The Bench expressed its displeasure with media experiences relating to the alleged custodial confession of an accused in a suspected homicide case, which was probed by the Crime Branch (CB).

In one such incident involving a CB probe into the Bindhu Padmanabhan lacking case, key suspect Sebastian C.M. of Pallippuram, close to Cherthala, was reported to have confessed to killing and burying Bindhu, a local of Kadakkarappally, who had been lacking for 19 years. He is claimed to have admitted that the homicide befell at his Pallippuram home, the place proof was collected on September 27.