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Peoples Union for Civil Liberties & Anr. v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · No specific "2026 INSC" number statedDecided 15 Jan 2026
Criminal Appeal No. 1255 of 1999, with several connected matters
Justice M.M. Sundresh · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Background

This 1999 appeal, part of the Court's decades-long police-accountability jurisprudence, had most recently focused on getting states to adopt a "Police Manual for Media Briefing" prepared with an amicus curiae's help, but states had shown little urgency in acting on it.

Decision Breakdown

The Court directed all states to evolve a media-briefing policy for police, taking the amicus-prepared Manual into account, within three months, and ordered the Manual uploaded to the Court's website. All connected matters (appeals, writ petitions, a contempt petition) were disposed of on these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Even decades-old institutional-reform litigation can conclude with firm, time-bound compliance directions rather than a fresh substantive ruling. Courts can and do set hard deadlines to force administrative follow-through.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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