Clarify Maria statement to media, HC tells police

Stating that police officers should be more responsible while parting with information to the media, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the police to issue a clarification in two weeks regarding the confession statement of Maria Susairaj, the key accused in Neeraj Grover murder case.

Kannada film actor Susairaj, along with her boyfriend Emile Jerome, is accused of killing Grover on May 6 and hacking his body into pieces before disposing it. Susairaj had sought a copy of her confession statement recorded by the police prior to the filing of the chargesheet in the case contending that the media had been made privy to it.

Justice Bilal Nazki and AA Kumbhakoni observed that the media reports were not in sync with the actual confession statement of Susairaj. “When a statement, which is attributed to an accused, gets wide publicity in the print media as well the electronic media, it creates impressions and perceptions about the guilt or innocence of an accused,” the judges held.

“We trust and hope that the media will publish appropriate clarification in this regard at the earliest,” they added.

The court, however, rejected Susairaj’s application seeking a copy of the confession statement and held that handing out the confession statement to the accused was left to the discretion of the investigating agency. The police can do it at any stage where they think their investigations will not be hampered, the court stated.

The court also said that police officers need to be more responsible while appraising the people about a case they are interested in. The police cannot be faltered for parting with such information but they should ensure that the information is not tailored. “Sometimes half truths are given which create an impression which is different from the impression that an investigating officer himself has about the culpability of a particular person,” the court said.

The court, therefore, suggested that the police department should lay down guidelines for its officers regarding sharing of information with the press. “We would appreciate if the police department creates a system by which a responsible police officer shares information rather than each of the investigating officers, as we consider it the duty of the police to inform the public of the progress in crime investigations.”

The judges added that the media - print and electronic — also need to be careful and responsible while reporting as the society forms an opinion based on its reports. While public perception of an accused may be guilty or otherwise, the courts have to go by the law, they said. If court judgments differ from public perception, the court is perceived as unfair.