High Court Rebukes Punjab Police Over Humiliating Instagram Reels of Arrested Accused

• by Akanksha Mishra
• 2026-10-15 17:47:00

Taking serious judicial note of law enforcement agencies turning official social media handles into arenas for public shaming, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a formal notice to the Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor initiated the scrutiny while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that flagged official Instagram videos showing arrested undertrials with visible physical trauma, limping gaits, and degrading postures set to background audio. Warning that broadcasting scenes of apparent custodial violence erodes constitutional guarantees, the High Court has demanded a comprehensive response from the state's top cop ahead of the next scheduled hearing on November 26, 2026.

PIL Targets District Police Handles: Ludhiana Rural to SAS Nagar Reels Under Scrutiny

The judicial intervention originated from an exhaustive petition highlighting systemic social media trends across multiple district jurisdictions:

Districts Under Judicial Lens: Filed by Advocate Nikhil Thamman, the PIL specifically brought on record questionable video uploads shared not just by the primary Punjab Police state handle, but also dedicated official handles operated by Ludhiana Rural, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Patiala, Moga, Fazilka, Jalandhar, Faridkot, and Ferozepur police teams.

Theatrical Packaging and Editing: The petitioner raised sharp objections against the professional cinematic styling, background scoring, and dramatic pacing of the footage, arguing that state-sanctioned handles are curating viral entertainment at the cost of legal propriety.

Depicting Visible Physical Distress: The plea pointed out that multiple clips depict suspects in severely compromised states—bearing physical contusions, suffering noticeable locomotive distress, or subjected to overt humiliation before phone cameras prior to formal magistrate production.

Normalizing Custodial Abuse: Why the High Court Steps In to Protect Justice Systems

The legal challenge raises fundamental constitutional questions regarding human dignity, pretrial rights, and police messaging:

Uninvestigated Physical Injuries: While the petitioner acknowledged that the origin of physical injuries remains a matter of separate investigative inquiry, capturing and publishing these depictions on verified government platforms conveys an impression that third-degree treatment and summary punishment are legitimate policing practices.

Eroding Constitutional Due Process: The petition emphasizes that such visual broadcasting breeds civilian fear, normalizes illegal custodial violence, and chips away at public faith in the rule of law and judicial adjudication.

Grooming Public Perception: Presenting battered undertrials under heroic cinematic formats risks cultivating a vigilantism mindset among the citizenry while abandoning the statutory doctrine of presumed innocence until conviction.

Demand for Reel Removal, Internal Inquiries, and Blanket Ban on Humiliating Content

The petition before the High Court has sought sweeping administrative mandates to overhaul institutional digital media protocols:

Immediate Video Takedowns: The petitioner urged the bench to issue peremptory orders directing the immediate removal of all such controversial reels, videos, and degrading photographic archives across every Punjab Police digital account.

Accountability for Content Production Chains: The plea requested an independent investigation to fix individual liability across the institutional chain of command, specifically identifying the officers and social media managers who filmed, edited, approved, and disseminated the footage.

Statewide Behavioral Guidelines: Demanding an ironclad statewide directive, the petitioner prayed that official police platforms should never be deployed to publicly parade suspects, celebrate unlawful policing tactics, or undermine fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

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