We need a unified code of conduct for investigating agencies...

Over the years we have witnessed the growth of Indian Television News Channels. We are now living in an era of ‘Breaking News’,(wonder what happened to the good old FLASH NEWS), ‘Exclusives’ and ‘Sting operations’. This means most of us have become media savvy. Gone are the days when someone had to do something as bizarre as eating a snake alive to hog the limelight for a while. This situation has benefitted common man in procuring any information that he needs more easily and readily. But, there are many negative sides to this picture.

 We had sting operations planned to discredit and harass hapless individuals. More recently, our investigating agencies have also become pro-active in planting and manoeuvring sensitive information about different investigations. Different investigating agencies are now readily giving out information about the arrests and the accused even while they are in the process of collecting evidences to substantiate their claims. This is a dangerous practise because:

·         The concept of ‘innocent until proved guilty’ is undermined.

·         The family of the accused are harassed and humiliated.

·         The investigators often end up looking ridiculous as happened repeatedly in the Arushi Murder Case.

·         Allows political parties, human rights groups and others build up rhetoric based on the claims which are not proven facts.

·         Prejudices the public opinion for or against the accused persons.

·         In case the claims made by the investigators are later proved to be false, the persons who were earlier accused would still have had to bear the defamation and harassment.

·         Causes conflicts and battles among various groups on the basis of unproven claims.

 I think the situation calls for implementing a General Code of Conduct for the investigating agencies across the country. The police should not be allowed to manoeuvre the public opinion.

 It is worth mentioning that in spite of tremendous pressure from the curious general public, the Kerala CBI team which is investigating the Sister Abhaya murder case has refused to divulge any details regarding the evidence and the motive of the arrested accused. This conduct is highly commendable, one that could be emulated by other teams across the country.